


Let My Heart Be Your Shelter

by shyhumblebee



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brotherly Bonding, Drama, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Recovery, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-03-21 01:08:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyhumblebee/pseuds/shyhumblebee
Summary: “How was the show?” is what Itachi ends up asking, but Sasuke knows what he means.“Fine,” Sasuke answers, keeping up their stalemate.Modern Au. Kind of rockband au but not really. Itachi and Sasuke are messes and have tough lives, but they have each other so it'll probably be okay. Probably. Well, a little help probably doesn't hurt either. M rating for mature themes and past/implied violence that will appear later.





	1. Still

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I won't talk your ear off before I get into it, but I do want to say one thing first: the focus of this fic isn't on any romantic relationship, so if that's what you're here for, you might be dissapointed.
> 
> For this chapter, a warning for slight alcoholism at the beginning. It's not going to be a huge thing but yeah if you're sensitive to that kinda thing, be warned.

There’s something about mindlessly walking a familiar, desolate path home—some feeling between the last streetlamp into the still night air until the next—that makes Sasuke feel empty. Like there’s static in his mind and a buzzing in his ears. Like in the summer when the flies swarm the streets of this trashy town. The scenery passes him by in a blur. Even the headlights that nearly blind him from the sparse cars that pass by don’t alter his stride. But it does make him wonder what the hell someone is doing out at 3 am on a Wednesday morning. There’s not exactly much to do here in this washed up town full of spat out people.  


The neon sign of the convenience store near his apartment catches Sasuke’s attention, and he enters without much thought. He made a decent amount tonight in tips and should have enough to get something to ease his bad mood. He passes by snacks on the way back to the refrigerated section. He pauses a moment to think and decides that Itachi is probably still awake and pulls out his phone to send a quick text to his brother.  


_Have you had dinner?_  


He continues on his way back and glances over the selection of alcohol before his phone buzzes.  


_Yes. Are you on the way home?_  


_Yeah. I’ll be there in 15._ Sasuke hesitates for a moment. _Don’t wait up._  


Not expecting a reply to that, he puts his phone away and considers his options for tonight. In the end, Sasuke decides to keep it classy and selects the best cost-to-alcohol-content ratio wine available. He pays in cash at the register and steps back out into the cool night air, already feeling a little better. It’s not like him to let outside stress get to him this much. Sasuke wonders if it’s a result of his rising popularity as a performer and the increased amount of shows it has gotten him.  


But it probably has something to do with the stalker he’s had recently.

* * *

He’s here again.  


Even in dim lighting and in a sea of colorful people, he still stands out somehow. He leans against the back wall, a decent distance from the entrance. It’s about the same place he’s been Sasuke’s past two shows. The second night Sasuke had come out after the show to see the man waiting for him. Sasuke recognized him from the week before. Blond and decently tall with tan skin and an average build. Not pausing for even a moment he turned and walked down the street. The stranger spluttered idiotically and scrambled after him.  


“Hey wait! I was waiting here for you, ya know!”  


Sasuke kept walking. He wondered if he should change his route home. Maybe doing a lap around the local police department would scare him off, but Sasuke would save that as a last resort.  


“I said wait you jerk! This is super important! Hey! Don’t ignore me!”  


Sasuke didn’t stick around to find out whatever was so important to this guy. He disappeared into a shortcut he knew and lost the guy quickly. Of course, he figured it would only be a temporary victory.  


Tonight the stranger alternates from paying rapt attention to leaning his head back with his eyes closed. Before, at the previous two shows, Sasuke wasn’t sure if he was relishing in his music or if the idiot was simply nodding off (something that pissed him off not just a little), but tonight Sasuke catches the small smile on the man’s face when he does it. Something inside him burns.  


The stage lights seem to burn more as Sasuke feels his dread building at the inevitable confrontation that will come. But Sasuke is a professional so he doesn’t miss a single beat. He immerses himself into his music again and feels the calm that comes with it. Sasuke’s songs are all his own. Sometimes Itachi will help with a line or with the composition, because he has a way with making it all come together. But the feelings—those are all Sasuke’s. It’s therapeutic to let his emotions and thoughts out in a roundabout way, because his lyrics and metaphors are always far too convoluted for anyone beside himself to understand. But others don’t need to understand; they only need to feel it.  


He finishes his set list for the night. He collects his tips from the container at the front of the tiny stage and walks into the employee area in the back without a single glance at the audience. He packs up his guitar and the rest of his things. He stops to wonder if maybe he should take the back exit this time. But the man hadn’t seemed dangerous, and he probably would not even be there after the cold treatment Sasuke had shown him the other night.  


Besides, Sasuke is not a coward.  


With that conviction, Sasuke makes his way to the front of the establishment and walks out the front door.  


“Hey again! You know, you were pretty rude the other day. But I think you’ll change your tune once you hear the offer I have for you!”  


Sasuke groans internally. What is with this guy? He sounds like some kind of pushy salesman. Sasuke turns to walk around the guy and the man moves with him, continuing to block his path. Sasuke looks up to glare at him. Hard.  


“Whoa! Holy shit, you’re kinda scary!” The man takes a step back.  


“Since you’re the one who’s been stalking me for almost a month now, I don’t think you’re really one to talk.”  


“Hey-wai-what!? Stalking!? I’ve only been trying to talk to you!”  


“I’m not interested in talking to strangers.” Sasuke sidesteps again. Thankfully this time the man doesn’t follow. He steps around him and moves to continue down the street, but the man turns to him and Sasuke glances up at him once more.  


“My name’s Naruto. Now we aren’t strangers.” He holds out a hand and smiles so big it scrunches up his entire face. Sasuke wants to roll his eyes, but he’s captivated by the sight and can’t seem to move. Realizing he’s been starting for a second too long, he quickly walks down the street with as much dignity as he can, leaving Naruto once again spluttering behind him.  


“H-hey! What the hell! You’re really rude you know that!?”

* * *

Sasuke slams the door closed with a tad more force than necessary when he gets home. His eyes immediately go to the only source of light in the dark apartment: the lamp on the side table beside the couch. Sure enough, his brother is still awake, curled up on the couch under the weak lamplight, book lowered at Sasuke’s overdramatic entrance. His face is wary. For good reason, Sasuke thinks, because all he wants to do right now is march over there, snatch the book right out of his hands, and throw it across the damn room.  


Sasuke doesn’t do any of that though. He can’t stop the glare he initially shoots Itachi, but Sasuke is quiet as he walks further into the apartment and tosses his keys on the counter in the kitchen to his left. As he turns back around though, Itachi gives him a look and he knows what his brother is trying to ask, what he’s too tired to ask. But Sasuke’s not in the mood and Itachi already pissed him off. So Sasuke does what he usually does: ignores him.  


But he supposes Itachi wouldn’t be Itachi if he didn’t try. “How was the show?” is what he ends up asking, but Sasuke knows what he means.  


“Fine,” Sasuke answers, keeping up their stalemate. He walks to his room and ignores Itachi’s gaze following the bottle Sasuke had just bought.

* * *

He’s here. Again.  


Itachi notices him as soon as he comes in the door, though he pretends not to. The man immediately heads deep into the library and Itachi assumes he is also pretending not to notice Itachi yet. Every now and then Itachi will see him appear out of the corner of his eye, perusing different aisles of books, and Itachi has to appreciate his dedication to this act. Itachi busies himself with finishing up some work, knowing he’s about to be preoccupied for a while and won’t have the opportunity. He checks out a book—some science fiction novel—to the only other patron in the library, a retired man who stops by regularly and insists on telling Itachi summaries of all the books he finishes since Itachi told him he didn’t care much for the genre. So far he hasn’t changed Itachi’s mind.  


“I have a good feeling about this one,” he says at checkout.  


Itachi gives him an amused, if a little exasperated, look. “Have a good day, sir.”  


He wishes Itachi the same and leaves. Itachi watches him go and knows his free time is about to run out. Slowly, he turns back to the front of his desk, puts his stamp away and logs out of the computer. Then he turns to his right and stares straight into the eyes of the man already waiting on him, looking far too smug, on the far end of checkout desk. At least he has the courtsey to wait for all other patrons to leave before beginning his game, Itachi thinks dejectedly.  


“Hey again. Looks like it’s just you and me, huh?” The man—Shisui—says, insufferable grin still on his face.  


“How may I help you today?”  


“Oh, you just wouldn’t believe it. I’m having the _hardest_ time finding these books I need.” Shisui’s eyes are gleaming with far too much humor to keep up any pretense.  


Itachi looks unimpressed. “Is that so.”  


“Yes. It is so. Won’t you help?”  


Itachi suppresses a sigh. “Of course.”  


“Alright!” He pumps his fist in the air slightly in victory.  


Itachi rolls his eyes and gets up out of his chair. He walks around the desk to meet Shisui, and together they head past the reference section. “What are you looking for today?”  


Shisui rubs his chin. “Hm. I think it was a historical fiction.”  


Itachi turns slightly and starts heading in the direction of the stairs at the back of the library that lead up to that section. “What was it about?”  


Shisui makes a loud humming noise as they start climbing the stairs. “There was this war general… real anti-hero kinda guy… I think he had a horse. Or maybe a pony.”  


Of course he did, Itachi thinks as they arrive at the top of the steps.  


Stepping into the first aisle of the historical fiction section, Itachi considers the possibilities. Of course, the book Shisui was looking for didn’t exist. The game was that Shisui would make up a book with increasingly ridiculous elements, and Itachi would try to find one that matched the made up book the most. It began shortly after Shisui had discovered Itachi had knowledge of seemingly every book in the library. Itachi did most of the restocking and circulation here, and before putting away any book he’d always skim the summary page (and sometimes a few chapters) out of curiosity. Shisui had been shocked when he had come in looking for a specific book only for Itachi to get up and grab it off the shelf without needing to look anything up. At Shisui’s questions, Itachi explained his habit and how his photographic memory helped him remember both the summaries and locations of the books.  


And now he has to play this silly game on an almost daily basis, Itachi thinks dejectedly. Making up his mind, he walks two rows over and selects the first book. The summary Shisui provided was too vague right now, and there were several things it could be, but the game had only just begun, so this would do for now. He hands the book over to Shisui.  


Shisui opens the cover and starts reading the inside summary. Itachi waits patiently for him to finish.  


Shisui looks up at him when he does, face impressed, as it always is when Itachi can find anything resembling his nonsense. But the game only just started. “Close, but not quite,” he says, tapping his chin. “That’s right! I completely forgot. There were pirates too, captured after landing in the wrong town for a night.”  


Wordlessly, Itachi takes the book back and returns it onto the shelf. His mind quickly runs through the new possibilities. Itachi hates to admit it, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the game even a little. It certainly gave him something to do. The local public library was deserted more often than not, and Itachi found himself with a lot of free time.  


Recalling a certain title, Itachi turns around and moves onto the next row, Shisui on his heels. He spots his target on a higher shelf and reaches up on his tiptoes to retrieve it.  


“Shouldn’t you use a ladder for that?” Shisui asks somewhat warily.  


Itachi shoots him a nasty look.  


“Or, better yet, why don’t I get that for you?” He steps forward.  


Itachi turns his head to face him and cranks his death glare up several notches.  


Shisui backs up with his hands held up in front of him. “Okay. Or you could get it, because you’re stubborn and have things to prove, apparently.”  


Itachi returns to retrieving the book, and when he does finally get it out, he holds it out to Shisui with a very satisfied look.  


Shisui laughs and takes it. “Are you proud of yourself?”  


The small smile on Itachi’s face says _‘yes.’_  


Shisui shakes his head with a smile and flicks the book open, quickly locating and reading the summary in the back.  


He closes the book. “Did I forget to mention the general and pirate captain were in love?”  


Itachi lets out a small puff of laughter and closes his eyes in exasperation.  


They take a few more turns like this, Shisui adding more to his imaginary book’s summary as Itachi leads him throughout nearly the entire historical fiction section to pick out the books he recalls. It gets more difficult with each addition, the possibilities narrowing, and Itachi has to take more time between each to think.  


“Okay, I think I finally remember the last thing.”  


Itachi lifts a single brow.  


“On their wedding day, both sides come together, and the war between the pirates and the Scottish finally ends.”  


Itachi gives him a dry look before tilting his head back and rolling his eyes back into his skull. What sort of moronic… Itachi doubts any book with such a premises would make it to publication, but it’s hard to say, there are all sorts of books out there. Besides, Itachi wasn’t a quitter.  


Itachi keeps his eyes closed in concentration, but from the sound of Shisui trying to suppress his laughter, Itachi guesses he is feeling pretty proud of himself.  


Then it comes to him. Itachi moves back towards the stairs.  


“Ha! Are you giving up already?” Shisui jeers behind him as he follows.  


“Hm. I think not,” Itachi replies as he heads back down.  


They make their way back to near the front of the library and Itachi stops in a section of shorter shelves, leaning down a bit to pull one out.  


“I think you’ll really enjoy this one,” Itachi says as he holds it out to Shisui.  


“No fucking way,” Shisui says, not taking the book yet.  


Itachi raises a brow and moves it closer to Shisui.  


Shisui looks down at it. “A picture book?” He laughs suddenly after glancing at a few of the titles on the shelf next to them, realizing that Itachi brought him into the children’s section. He takes the book from Itachi and skims through the pages since there isn’t a summary. “Holy shit. I can’t believe it. Although, you lost a bit of the anti-hero quality, huh?” He makes a tsking noise. “I’m going to have to deduct a few points for that.”  


“That’s the closest you’ll find in this library. At least that I know of, because despite what you seem to think, I actually do not know every book in this place,” Itachi tells him dryly.  


“At this rate, I’m sure you will one of these days.”  


Itachi can’t stop from smiling slightly and looks away.  


“So about that other book I needed,” Shisui starts.  


Itachi cuts his eyes back to him with a slight glare.  


“It’s a sci-fi romance. A real Romeo and Juliet kind of situation.”  


Itachi sighs long-sufferingly and walks out of the children’s section with Shisui chuckling behind him.

* * *

It’s a slow night at the convenience store Itachi works at. It’s far from unusual though, since Itachi works the graveyard shift here, at this tiny, shitty convenience store on the edge of this tiny, shitty town. The time between customers is vast and the silence between them is something Itachi has come to look forward to.  


Itachi checks the time on his phone. Sasuke has a show soon. But Itachi recalls that the past few days Sasuke has been sleeping at this time. When Itachi had stopped by the apartment to cook dinner after his job at the library, Sasuke had been asleep, and he was still asleep when Itachi had left to pick up his shift here. It’s possible Sasuke had set an alarm, or perhaps he has slept enough and is awake by now. It’s always hard to tell with Sasuke. His sleep schedule is always erratic and his dedication to responsibilities is always fickle.  


Itachi drums his fingers on the counter and considers what to do. He could trust that Sasuke was responsible enough to make sure he was awake and on time for his own show. But if he wasn’t they’d miss out any payment from the show, plus the owners might not hire him again for skipping out. But calling Sasuke just to make sure isn’t an appealing option either, because in either resulting scenario, Sasuke is likely to be pissed at him. Either Sasuke would be awake and pissed that Itachi would doubt him like that, or he’d be asleep and be pissed that Itachi was nagging him about it. Itachi runs a hand over his face and through his bangs with a deep sigh.  


Deciding that there is no winning scenario here, Itachi dials Sasuke’s number.  


Sasuke picks up on the last ring with a groan. “What.” His voice sounds muffled and scratchy with sleep.  


Itachi closes his eyes briefly. “It’s me. I was checking to see if you made it to the venue for your show tonight alright.”  


Itachi hears another groan and shuffling on the other end. And after a few moments, “’m not goin’,” he mumbles.  


Itachi considers his words for a moment. “Why not?”  


There is silence on the other end.  


“They didn’t cancel on you, did they? That would be awfully rude of them to do so last minute.”  


“Oh fuck off.”  


“Hm. I see. So you are going to cancel on them I take it?”  


There is silence for a moment. “I’m not canceling…” Sasuke mumbles, voice sleepy again, and Itachi tries very hard not to give in to how cute he sounds and let him go back to sleep.  


“So you’re going?”  


Itachi hears shifting on the other end. “I don’t know.”  


They both fall into silence. Itachi considers how to approach this, knowing he needs to tread carefully or risk upsetting his brother past the point of return, which for Sasuke, is an incredibly thin threshold. Getting Sasuke to go to his show is the ideal goal, but first he needs to figure out how bad Sasuke is feeling, Itachi decides.  


“Are you… sick?”  


“Hmph.”  


“… Do you need me to come home?”  


Sasuke groans into his pillow on the other end.  


Itachi chuckles.  


“Stop enjoying this.”  


“I assure you I am not. Did you eat your dinner? I left it for you in the microwave.”  


“…No.”  


“Hm.” Itachi taps a finger on the counter. “Could you eat that? Maybe it’ll help you feel better.”  


It’s quiet for so long that Itachi starts wondering if he fell back asleep.  


“…Fine.” Sasuke hangs up before Itachi can respond.

* * *

Sasuke hates to admit it, but after he had dragged himself out of bed and ate his dinner (or breakfast?), he is feeling a bit better. Stupid know-it-all, pushy brothers. Sasuke checks his phone and sees that he has enough time to make it to his gig and only be a little late. Honestly, he still doesn’t want to go, but he is already up and is feeling antsy, so he picks up his guitar from his room and prepares to head out.

  


When Sasuke arrives at the venue he texts Itachi that he ended up going. The management gave him a bit of fuss for being late but still told him to hurry and set up. What ungrateful morons, they’re lucky he’s even here in the first place.  


After the show, Sasuke got his payment but also got a completely unwarranted warning about his tardiness. What the hell were they complaining about? He was late for setup, as far as the patrons were concerned, he was right on time, so who cares? And if they wanted him to act like a professional, they could stand to pay him like one, instead of the chump change they were currently giving him. The tips weren’t that great tonight either, since it was a tiny gig even for his standards. Overall, Sasuke thought, this was a total waste of time and effort.  


But it is especially now, as he walks out of the establishment, that Sasuke is beginning to regret coming. Between his rush in getting here and his overall crappy mood tonight, he had completely forgotten about his annoying stalker.  


“So when’s the funeral?” This guy… what was his name? Oh right. Naruto says with a cheeky grin.  


Sasuke narrows his eyes. He is not in the mood for this.  


“Because you look like someone ran over your cat last night.”  


Sasuke only gives him an unimpressed look, adjusts his guitar on his back, and turns to walk down the street.  


“Hey, wait up!” Naruto calls and falls into step next to him.  


Sasuke cuts a glare over at him. “Stop stalking me you freak.”  


“I’m not stalking! I’m escorting! You never know who’s out there, ya know?”  


“You mean people like you?”  


“No! Besides I like to consider us friends at this point.”  


“We are not friends.” Sasuke returns his gaze forward.  


“You know what’ll fix that? A nice, warm dinner! I know a great place! You’ll love it, trust me.”  


Sasuke stops in his tracks and looks at him. “Is that what this is about? I’m not interested in seeing anyone at the moment.”  


Naruto seems to realize how far into his mouth he has just jammed his foot. “What? No! I was just- Well I mean if you want-“ Sasuke narrows his eyes. “Uh! Or not! But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”  


Sasuke tilts his head. “Well? Spit it out. What exactly do you want from me then?”  


Naruto seems to collect himself for a second before he starts looking into Sasuke’s eyes with some serious intensity. “You’re very talented.”  


Sasuke raises a brow and looks expectant, as if to say ‘Go on...’  


Naruto swallows nervously, and Sasuke tracks the movement with his eyes before he could stop himself. He quickly flicks his eyes back up to Naruto’s face. “And I… want you in my band!”  


What.  


“Our band is awesome! We just need someone like you! A lead singer and songwriter with your talent! Plus another guitarist never hurts. Although I’d like if you didn’t completely take over my job,” he gives a little chuckle at that. “But you play the keyboard too, right? You played one at one of your shows. Well actually we already have a keyboard player too but the more the merrier you know?”  


“Wait. Stop.” Sasuke lifts up his hand to stop the nervous chatter. “Look, I’m not interested in anything like that either.”  


“But we’re totally gonna be famous! Especially if we have someone like you at the front of the band! Of course, I’ll also be at the front but-”  


“Yeah, yeah. Okay. I get it. But, no. I’m not interested.”  


Naruto looks completely crestfallen at that. Sasuke finds it hard to give a shit. He doesn’t owe this guy anything; and like hell he wants to be part of a bunch of nobodies who go nowhere and play empty shows, all for a meager profit that they’d have to split. He works better alone anyways; people are always annoying to deal with, and this guy seems especially annoying.  


“Well… do you still want that dinner? Because I’m going there one way or the other. And I guess I owe you something after bugging you so much for nothing.”  


Sasuke narrows his eyes at him, but considers his offer. He _is_ pretty hungry. But more importantly, turning down free food isn’t something Sasuke is ever eager to do. And if this guy is going to make it out like he owed it to him… well Sasuke couldn’t find fault with that. Sasuke glances him over once more. And also…  


“Hmph, you _did_ stalk me for a month.”  


“I wasn’t stalking you! Ugh! Could you stop saying that? I’m trying to be nice here asshole!”  


“Fine.”  


Naruto looks dumbfounded. “Uh, what?”  


“I said fine. Buy me dinner. It’s the least you could do for being such an annoyance to me. Just don’t try to recruit me again and maybe I’ll consider removing your current stalker status.”  


Naruto just continues to look at him dumbly.  


Sasuke smirks. “Are we going or not?”  


Naruto comes back to himself, “Oh hell yeah! Let’s go!”  


Sasuke rolls his eyes. “Hold on, don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m going to drop my guitar off at home first, it’s not that far.”  


“Alright, no problem! Let’s go!”  


Sasuke scoffs. “Yeah… I don’t think so.” Naruto frowns. “There’s no way in hell you are following me home. I’m going to take my guitar home and meet you back here.”  


Naruto’s face scrunches up in suspicion. “How long is that going to take?”  


Sasuke pauses to calculate. “About 40 minutes probably.”  


Naruto’s jaw drops. “Are you kidding!? That’s almost an hour! You’re going to leave me standing here for almost an hour?!”  


“You’ll live.” Sasuke turns to start walking home.  


“But I’m hungry,” Naruto whines, falling in step with him.  


“What are you, an infant?”  


But Sasuke lets him follow for a bit. When he is about 10 minutes from his apartment he turns to Naruto. “Okay, you seriously need to stop following me now. My apartment is close, and I’m seriously not showing you where I live.” If this guy did turn out to be some sort of serial killer, he wasn’t going to drag his brother down with him.  


Naruto rolls his head back and does an exaggerated groan. _“Fiiine,”_ he whines, dragging the word out. “I’ll wait here.”  


Sasuke narrows his eyes in warning, “I’m serious. I’m calling the cops if I even think you’re tailing me, got it?”  


“Okay, okay, I won’t. Sheesh.” He mumbles something under his breath.  


Sasuke shoots him one last warning glare before hurrying off in a different direction. He takes his time, checking behind himself and taking a more complicated path, and finally gets to his front door. He steps in and drops his guitar off in his room. He decides this is probably the best opportunity to text Itachi. He takes out his phone and only then sees the reply to the text he sent when he arrived at the gig.  


_Glad you’re feeling better._ And then a minute after: _Have fun._  


Sasuke mentally scoffs. Yeah, a lot of fun that turned out to be.  


_Don’t worry about dinner for me tonight._  


Sasuke fiddles with his phone for a moment. Itachi would be getting off of work in the next few hours. It would be too much to ask that he go straight to bed with Sasuke not home and telling him to do so directly is tricky.  


_I’ll be getting home late. Possibly after you leave for your morning shift._  


There’s no way Sasuke is spending that long with Naruto, but if Itachi thinks Sasuke is going to be out until his next shift, he’ll have to go to bed instead of waiting. Sasuke hopes his brother won’t be able to see through the lie, but Itachi always has an infuriating way of seeing straight through him.  


Sasuke pockets his phone and debates if he should bring some spare cash. He doesn’t want to spend anything and has no problem taking advantage of other people to pay for him, but his pride smarts a bit despite himself and tells him that he can at least cover the tip. He shoves a couple bills from tonight’s tips into his pocket and heads back out the door and retraces his steps back to Naruto. He finds himself walking a bit quicker for some reason and purposefully slows his stride, wondering what was the matter with him.  


Sasuke turns back onto the street where he had left Naruto earlier, and finds him still there. He’s leaning against the streetlamp and staring intently at his phone, where his fingers are moving rapidly against it. It’s similar to the look he had sometimes while Sasuke was performing. At second glance, Sasuke notices that Naruto actually has a bit of muscle, which is visible since the moron is only wearing a plain, red T-shirt. He feels a brief stab of guilt for leaving him in the cold for so long before he ruthlessly squashes it. He wasn’t the one who dressed the idiot in a short-sleeved shirt in the middle of autumn. At least he was sensible enough to wear what looks like thick jeans, that he fills out pretty nicely and—Sasuke picks up his pace again until he catches Naruto’s eye, causing him to look up in surprise from his phone.  


“Finally! I thought you ditched me!” Naruto calls to Sasuke as he pushes himself off the streetlamp.  


Sasuke doesn’t reply until he is close enough that he doesn’t need to raise his voice. “And yet you’re still here.” Naruto harrumphs. “What are you complaining about anyways? It was barely over 20 minutes.”  


“Really? I think it was more like almost a full half-hour!” Sasuke gives him a look. “The good news is that I beat my high score!” Naruto shoves his phone into Sasuke’s face, showing him the colorful screen of some mobile game with the score of 3052 displayed in the center in a bright yellow font, the text over top reading “Personal Best.” Naruto waggles his eyebrows at him. “Are you impressed?”  


Sasuke only stares at him for a moment, letting the silence speak for him, and finally asks, “So are we going?”  


Sasuke smirks at Naruto’s offended expression.

* * *

Itachi sees his phone light up out of the corner of his eye with a text, but he doesn’t look away from his book just yet. He’s finally at an intriguing part after what was, in his opinion, far too much build up. At the very least, he is finishing this scene. However, not long after the first, his phone lights up again with another message, and his curiosity is piqued enough for him to finally set the book down after marking his page. Picking up his phone, he sees they are both from Sasuke. His brow furrows a bit before pulling up the messages.  


_Don’t worry about dinner for me tonight._  


_I’ll be getting home late. Possibly after you leave for your morning shift._  


Itachi squints. What is this about? Sasuke isn’t one to spend a second longer out of his room, much less the apartment, than he had to. He also didn’t usually eat out, and if he did, not without offering to get Itachi something as well. Maybe the venue gave him a free meal as part of his payment? Itachi doubted it; he didn’t think this specific venue served any food outside of vending machines in the lobby. Sasuke didn’t cook much either; when Itachi didn’t prepare something for Sasuke, his eating habits were as spotty as his sleep schedule. Is Sasuke going out with someone then? When did he make friends? If he did, there is no way he has had them for long, meaning there is no way he would spend such an extended period of time with them. That part at least had to be some trick to keep Itachi from waiting up for him. Itachi would be annoyed if he didn’t think Sasuke’s attempt at deceiving him was so cute, if not painfully obvious.  


Regardless, at least he doesn’t have to worry about dinner at all now. Itachi sags a bit with relief. He is already completely drained from today and wasn’t sure if he would have the energy to make Sasuke something when he finally got back tonight. Although it didn’t seem like he’d able to go straight to bed like he’d been hoping.  


Itachi glances to the only other person in the small store, a middle aged woman who has been walking the food aisles for a while now. Itachi groans internally. It’s a convenience store; their selection can’t be that vast. He isn’t exactly one for keeping up appearances, he texts Sasuke often and reads on the job every night—it wasn’t like they had much traffic—and was sitting, slouched over the counter more often than not. But he also doesn’t figure laying his head down for a quick rest with a customer in the store is a wise decision.  


The woman moves further back and returns to staring at the shelf there. Itachi’s eyebrow twitches. He turns instead to look out the windows that line the front of the store to his left. The light outside that keeps the front of the store illuminated at night has been flickering for his past few shifts here. He’s sure it’ll go out soon—he just wishes the stubborn thing would already. It has been flashing in the corner of his vision for far too long and is going to drive him insane. This sort of torturous work environment has to be illegal. But short of going out there, climbing the roof, and ending the fleeting life of the light bulb himself, there isn’t much he can do.  


Dragging a hand over his face, Itachi contemplates the long night ahead of him and tries to estimate the amount of sleep he could get tonight before he had to be up for his day job at the library at eight. How much of what Sasuke had said was a bluff? Maybe he really did have plans to be out for the whole night. Itachi puts his elbow on the counter and leans his face against his fist. Itachi decides that either way, it doesn’t really matter. Sasuke always gets mad when Itachi waits up, but he can’t help it, he can’t sleep until he knows Sasuke is home safe and sound anyways.  


Itachi closes his eyes and opens his fist to rest his face into his palm, deciding that he could probably use all the moments of rest he could get tonight. Just the simple act of closing his eyes brings him immediate relief. It’s enough for a few minutes, but before long he finds himself sliding further down onto the counter until his head is resting on his crossed arms. Itachi tries to pull enough willpower to get back up, but he settles on putting that off for a few minutes. As long as he doesn’t actually fall asleep, he should be fine.  


Of course, that’s the last thought he remembers having until he feels a presence moving near him and jerks his head up. It’s the woman who had been stuck in the food aisle. When Itachi jerked his head up, she froze and whipped her head around to look at him like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s hard to miss the hefty armful of snacks in her arms and a quick scan reveals cans and boxes overflowing out of her purse and pockets. Itachi slowly lifts his gaze back up to her face. He’s too tired to suppress the flinch he gets looking at her pleading and desperate expression.  


They both stare at each other in a moment that feels impossible longer than it could actually be, as time seems to standstill for both of them. It takes those moments for Itachi to fully process the situation through his sleep-lagged brain. He thinks for only a few seconds longer.  


Itachi puts his head back down and closes his eyes. Distantly, the clanging of the front door opening and closing is heard.

* * *

Sasuke stares up at the sign of the restaurant they are in front of as Naruto looks at him eagerly beside him.  


“Trust me, it’s the best place in town!”  


Sasuke lifts a brow but keeps his gaze forward, taking in the dingy and clearly aged storefront. It’s small, easily overlooked, squished between two taller buildings that are equally aged. They have more of a residential look compared to the restaurant and would flow seamlessly together if not for the shorter building between them. Sasuke wonders if the owner repurposed the building for his restaurant but had for some reason kept the old, rotten wood look.  


“Well… Are you excited or what?” Naruto asks impatiently.  


Sasuke turns to look at him finally. “A ramen shop? Really?”  


“Right?! They’re so hard to find around here!” Naruto gestures excitedly to the door. “And yet I was able to find this gem in a hopeless place… There’s nothing better than a hot, filling bowl of ramen on a cold night!”  


Sasuke concedes to that at least, although he was still disappointed he wouldn’t be able to get anything for Itachi after all. A bowl of ramen, even if he could take it to go, wouldn’t keep long enough for his brother to get to it.  


“Welcome!” someone behind the counter calls when they walk in.  


“I’m back!” Naruto calls back, but it catches Sasuke off guard that he said it in Japanese.  


“So where do you wanna sit?” Naruto asks, in English again, turning back to Sasuke.  


Sasuke looks around and wonders what difference it will make. The place was tiny, the dinning area maybe a generous square twenty feet. There’s the bar separating the dinning area from the kitchen, but at least the illusion of privacy would be nice. He walks over to a table for two in the far corner of the restaurant and sits down in one of the metal chairs.  


“Oh? Who’s this?” The man behind the bar directs to Naruto.  


Naruto beams. “I brought a friend today!” Sasuke represses the urge to correct him.  


The man laughs, “That’s great! Could always use more regulars. So the usual for you? And your friend?”  


“Yup, the usual for me,” Naruto answers as he grabs a menu and chopsticks off the bar and starts heading over to Sasuke. “We might need a few minutes for him though, he seems like the picky type,” Naruto calls over his shoulder and the man laughs again.  


Sasuke narrows his eyes and pouts. He was _not_ picky! He snatches the menu out of Naruto’s hands the second it’s within reach, earning himself a smug expression from Naruto. Glancing over the menu quickly, Sasuke doesn’t even look at the prices as he selects the most loaded, expensive looking bowl on the menu. When he lowers the menu to look expectantly at Naruto, he seems surprised.  


“Oh. Are you done already? I just gave it to you!”  


“Don’t act surprised, I’m not that picky.”  


Naruto lets out a loud, short laugh. “Oh yeah? What are you getting?”  


Sasuke tells him and starts getting up to place his order at the bar.  


“He’s having bowl #8!” Naruto yells over to the man before Sasuke can get up.  


“And for drinks?” The man calls back.  


Naruto turns his head to Sasuke in question.  


Sasuke shrugs. “Water’s fine,” he directs at the man.  


“Water!” Naruto yells after him.  


Sasuke turns to glare at Naruto. “Do you seriously need to yell? He’s like ten feet away from us, moron. He probably heard me.”  


“Hey! He’s old! And probably half deaf by now or something!”  


Sasuke rolls his eyes but doesn’t see a point in arguing further.  


“So I finally get to introduce myself! I’m Naruto Uzumaki. The lead guitarist and founder of my own band-“ Sasuke narrows his eyes, “but we can talk about that later! Hehe.”  


Sasuke has a feeling this is going to be a long night.  


“Sasuke.”  


Naruto blinks up at him. “Huh?”  


“Pay attention, idiot. My name. It’s Sasuke.”  


Naruto’s brow furrows in confusion. “What? I thought your name was-”  


“That’s just my stage name,” Sasuke cuts him off smoothly.  


“Oh,” he says, questions clearly swimming in his eyes. He breaks the moment of tension with a smile, “I guess that’s pretty cool!”  


Sasuke hums in his throat, a noncommittal response.  


“So,” Naruto drags the word out, fingers fidgeting with the wrapping paper on his chopsticks, “you mostly sing original songs, right? You’re talented.”  


“I said no recruiting.”  


“I’m not! I’m paying a complement. Sheesh!” Naruto starts tapping the chopsticks against the table. They both fall into silence as Naruto struggles to come up with something to talk about, and Sasuke watches him struggle with no small amount of satisfaction.  


After awhile though, Sasuke sighs and throws him a bone. “Thanks. I’m mostly self taught.”  


“Mostly?”  


Sasuke just shrugs, not really wanting to talk to him about Itachi.  


Naruto twirls the chopsticks in his hand. “That’s pretty cool! My dad taught me how to play the guitar when I was younger. I guess that’s why I got so into it. I also know the bass! But I didn’t learn that until much later, my mom used to take me to those lessons in high school. I’m not too sure she was too happy about it though,” he laughs sheepishly. “She would always complain about all the noise in the house.”  


“She didn’t play anything?”  


Naruto holds the chopsticks to his chin in thought. “Mm… maybe if you count singing? She’s pretty terrible at it though! She only does it around the house sometimes.”  


Sasuke snorts. It reminded him of how Itachi used to hum around the house when they were younger and sang under his breath when he thought he was alone. Nowadays though, his brother only hums when he’s in an especially good mood—so hardly ever.  


“What about you?” Naruto asks.  


“What _about me?”_  


Naruto rolls his eyes. “You’re so difficult. Do your parents play anything?”  


Sasuke pauses and tries to think back. Did they? He couldn’t recall any memories that suggested they did. Maybe Itachi would know. Sasuke had never thought to ask him before. “I don’t think so.”  


“You’re not sure?”  


Sasuke shrugs. “I never asked. And could you stop that?” Sasuke looks pointedly at where Naruto has been tapping his chopsticks against the table.  


Naruto pulls his hand back sheepishly. “Hehe, sorry, it’s a habit I guess.” Suddenly Naruto’s attention drifts off to the side and Sasuke follows his gaze to a woman stepping out from behind the bar with a tray of food and drinks. “Oh finally! I’m starving!”  


The woman sets the tray down for them on the table and shoots Naruto an amused look. “You always say that.” She tells him before glancing over at Sasuke. Her smile widens. She turns back to Naruto with a wink, “You two enjoy.”  


“We sure will!” Naruto unwraps his chopsticks and breaks them apart. “Let’s eat!” He says, switching to Japanese again.  


Sasuke studies him for a moment while Naruto starts inhaling his food. He peals the wrapper off of his straw and stirs it in his water. “You know her?”  


Naruto looks up from his bowl with a mouthful of noodles. “Hm?”  


Sasuke scrunches up his nose. “You better swallow that before you answer. The waiter. You two seemed familiar.”  


Naruto gulps down his mouthful. Sasuke distantly wonders how he didn’t choke on it. “Oh yeah! That’s Ayame, she’s the owner’s daughter.”  


Sasuke thinks for a moment. “Are you family friends with the owners or something?”  


Naruto laughs. “I wish! Then maybe I’d get some on the house. But no, I’ve actually only been in town for about half a year. This is just the most authentic ramen shop in a 50-mile radius, so I’m here like every other day.”  


Both of Sasuke’s eyebrows go up at the ‘every other day’ bit. How does someone live like that? Also, what does this guy know about authentic ramen? Sasuke was officially curious.  


“So… do you speak Japanese? Were you born there?” Sasuke speaks in his first language.  


Naruto’s face scrunches up in confusion, raising a brow. “Uh… What?”  


“Oh, you don’t.”  


“Don’t what?”  


“Speak Japanese.” Sasuke finally picks up his chopsticks and starts eating his bowl.  


Naruto’s eyes light up. “Oh! Well I used to know the basics from my mom. She used to speak it around the house when I was younger. But well… we both kind of forgot over the years.” He laughs a little sheepishly and rubs the back of his head.  


“So you’re half, then?”  


“Uh, sort of? It’s on my dad’s side too actually…”  


Sasuke hums. “Interesting.”  


Naruto gets an excited look. “Oh is it? Well in that case! It might also be interesting to you that everyone in my band is also of Japanese decent. In one way or another.”  


Sasuke glares and plucks some of the toppings into his mouth.  


Naruto seems to realize his mistake. “Not that I’m trying to recruit you, of course.”  


“Of course.” Sasuke takes another bite of noodles.  


Naruto’s face gets more serious and, for once, seems to think before opening his mouth. “Really, it’s not like that. I just,” he looks up into Sasuke’s eyes with such sincerity that Sasuke freezes mid-sip of water. Naruto holds eye contact with him for a beat longer before he visibly grows uncomfortable and looks away. “I just think you’d like them,” he finishes lamely.  


Sasuke sets his glass of water back down. “What makes you think that?”  


Naruto shrugs. “I dunno. I like them… they like me…”  


“We’re nothing alike.” It’s true Sasuke hasn’t spent a lot of time with him, but it was fairly obvious they were very different people.  


Naruto looks back at him to give him a tortured, almost pitying look. Sasuke wonders what it means. He wonders what this man’s true intentions are. But Naruto doesn’t say anything else as he goes back to eating. Sasuke considers him for a moment before doing the same.

  


“Let me walk you home.”  


Sasuke levels him a look that clearly says _‘you’ve got to be kidding.’_  


“Come on! It’s close-ish right? It’s no problem for me,” he says earnestly.  


“There’s nothing to worry about once you leave. You’re my only stalker.”  


“That you know of!”  


“I’ll take my chances.”  


“Ugh. Can I at least have your number so we can do this again?”  


“Who said we’re doing this again?”  


“Oh, come on! We had lots of fun!”  


“Debatable.”  


Naruto makes a choking, offended sound.  


“I’m sure you’ll find me again somehow anyways,” Sasuke tosses over his shoulder as he leaves, but not before he sees the smile spread across Naruto’s face that sends his heart thumping.

* * *

Sasuke’s blood is boiling.  


The walk back home seemed much shorter, and Sasuke was stepping into the apartment before he knew it, feeling a lightness he wasn’t used to. Only for the sight of his dumbass brother sitting up on the couch to send his mood straight back down.  


But then Sasuke notices that his brother is actually asleep—leaning against the armrest with his neck bent at an awkward angle—and closes the door gently despite his urge to slam it. He slowly walks the few steps to his left into the kitchen to place his keys on the counter before approaching his brother. With the lamp on, Itachi’s somewhat up-right position, and the book discarded on his lap, Sasuke figures he must have passed out waiting for him. Fucking idiot.  


Sasuke takes the book from his brother and grabs the bookmark off the side table to keep his place. The front cover catches his attention though. It’s a painting of a wizardly-looking old man clutching an armful of treasures to his chest while dark, animalistic monsters surround him with glowing red eyes. Sasuke raises a brow. He flips open the cover and reads the inside summary. What the fuck? What the hell was his brother doing reading this garbage? He places it on the side table.  


Sasuke turns a considering glance back at Itachi, unsure of what to do now. He wants to put a pillow under his head—because his brother’s neck was going to hurt like hell in the morning if he kept it like that—but his brother is one hell of a light sleeper. Plus, Sasuke always has to be careful with what lines he crosses if he doesn’t want any retaliation.  


Deciding that tucking his brother in wouldn’t warrant any annoying ‘favors,’ Sasuke throws the cover that hangs on the back of the couch over him and carefully slides a pillow behind his head to keep it upright. Amazed that he didn’t wake Itachi up, Sasuke cuts off the light and carefully makes his way to his room in the dark.  


As Sasuke prepares for bed, he begins second guessing himself. As he begins to fall asleep, Sasuke hopes he hasn’t tipped the scale too much with all of his antics tonight. Both Itachi and himself have been keeping a careful stalemate for years now. It’s the reason they tiptoe around each other, the reason Sasuke doesn’t tell him to go to bed or to take his medicine. And it’s the same reason that, come morning, Itachi won’t ask him where he went tonight.  


Itachi won’t push, and in return, Sasuke doesn’t push back.


	2. Somebody Help Me Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another slight warning for alcoholism. I didn't think that would be such a thing, and if it continues to be, I'll add a proper warning tag. But it's about on the same level as last chapter's so if you were fine there you'll be fine here. Just be warned.  
> (Oh also, I fixed the spacing on the last chapter, and if you saw the original, I am so, so sorry. It was my first time posting on here.)

The next time Sasuke is awake, it’s to the sound of the shower turning on in the next room. He rolls over to groan into his pillow and curses his brother’s existence. He can already feel in his bones that it’s going to be one of those days, where no matter what he has to do—no matter what he _wants_ to do—he will be stuck in bed. Luckily, he doesn’t have another show for almost a week, so the only thing he _needs_ to do is eat. And drink. Especially drink, he thinks, adding ramen to his growing list of things he hates this morning—how much damn salt do they put in there? Sasuke turns his head to breath easier. Despite his almost dire thirst, Sasuke currently can’t be damned into getting up right now.

Sasuke is nearly lulled back to sleep from the calming noise of the shower running, familiar and safe, when he remembers the previous night, and he is suddenly a lot more awake. What the fuck had he been thinking? Sasuke has a quick moment of panic before he relaxes. No. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was just dinner. And it’s not like anything bad happened. Itachi would freak out if he found out he’d went out with a stranger who’d been following him for a month, but obviously he wasn’t anyone dangerous to them, just a desperate loser, so he hadn’t done anything wrong. And anyways, it’s not like Itachi would find out.

But somehow Sasuke isn’t as sure about his actions as he had been last night. He tosses and turns in bed uneasily, mind racing with assurances and guilt. Itachi would be worried if he found out, he might even want to move again already, when they were finally stable, and it would all be because he didn’t have any common sense and- No! He didn’t do anything wrong. Fuck Itachi. It’s not any of his business where or with who he spends his time. Sasuke’s not an idiot. He knows danger when he sees it. He would be able to feel if Naruto had any bad intentions, and the only he felt last night was…

The only thing he felt last night was…

Sasuke’s breath becomes shallow. He curls up around his pillow and screams into it.

There’s a beat of stewing silence before, “I’m just making sure, but-”

Sasuke jumps with a small shout and whips his head around to see his brother in the doorway.

Itachi, neat work clothes and wet hair in a towel, levels a careful look at him. He stares at him for a beat before the corner of his mouth quirks a bit, apparently amused. “…I’m just making sure, but that was out of frustration, yes?”

Sasuke drops back down into the bed and groans, rubbing a hand over his face. God damn sneaky brothers.

Itachi’s smirk widens, and he tilts his head slightly with a hum. “I thought so, but since you don’t have anything to do anytime soon, I wondered what you could be so frustrated about.”

“Nothing… ‘m thirsty,” he mumbles, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“I see... No new life-altering trauma that I need to know about?”

Sasuke snorts, chucking his pillow at his brother’s head.

“Just making sure,” he singsongs as he ducks into the hall, dodging easily.

Sasuke settles back into a comfortable position under the covers, somehow even more tired than before. He listens to Itachi finishing getting ready while he drifts off again, no longer thinking about last night, or any consequences it could have—only hearing the hum of a hairdryer, soft footsteps, and tinkering from the kitchen.

 

When he wakes again, it’s to the afternoon sun streaming in through the curtains, light catching and reflecting off the condensation of the glass left on Sasuke’s bedside table, ice long melted.

* * *

They were still there.

Shisui took another burning swig of whisky and stared, gaze burning a hole into the beat-up boxes in the corner of his apartment, his apartment that he’d been in for over a year now. I really should unpack those already, he thought distantly, for what could have been the hundredth time. But it was just that: A thought, and nothing more. He turned his attention back to the television and drank until he was watching the screen swirl with colors.

 

Is everything in this fucking town falling apart?

Shisui shifted his car into park and stepped out, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, which was making his already killer headache near unbearable. At least the local public library was of decent _size_ , he relented. It was at least two stories high, and larger than many of the government owned buildings in the area. It had tall windows that looked more like old plastic than glass, and cheap siding with chipping paint that had been white at one point. The rusted letters on the side of the building let him know that he was indeed at the right place.

As he walked in, he decided to spare himself the additional headache of locating the book he needed on his own and walked straight up to the circulation desk. The employee seated there looked up at him approaching. Shisui’s heart dropped.

“Can I help you?” His tone was as dead as his eyes.

Shisui wasn’t sure what the feeling twisting his gut up was. He was sure he felt a little pity, because this man looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, and his entire being radiated misery. But there was something else, something in his eyes that unnerved him. There was something thick there, more than just a wall or a front, not just guarded, but… dangerous? No, maybe not dangerous, he thought. But as he continued to stare into the man’s eyes, blacker and deeper than Hell, he wasn’t so sure.

The man’s expression slowly shifted into something more wary. “Sir?” he asked uncertainly after too much time had passed.

That hollow feeling melted immediately, and Shisui barked out a quick, relieved laugh that made the man jump in his seat and blink at him with wide eyes. This, of course, only made him laugh more. It was just funny, the contradiction in his gut feeling and this man’s behavior.

Shisui got himself under control again quickly and tried to recover, “Right, sorry. It’s just real funny how much you look like your job,” he motioned to the man. Not the smoothest recovery maybe, but he really did look the part. He had thick glasses and a sweater vest that covered a stripped dress shirt, topped off with a book open on the desk in front of him. All that was missing was a bowtie!

It didn’t seem like the man bought it as much as Shisui had hoped he would. “I see… Was there something you needed then?”

“Ah, right,” he dug into his pocket and handed the man a piece of paper, “I’m looking for this, do you guys happen to have it?”

The man—Itachi, he saw as he glanced at his nametag—took the scrap and read it. He tilted his head to the side, as if contemplating something, and got up out of his chair, surprising Shisui. Couldn’t he use the computer at his desk to look it up? Or was there some special library computer that did it? Curious, he followed the man as he came out from behind his desk.

Itachi cut him a glance that might have been disapproving, but he didn’t protest. He walked only a couple aisles deep into the library before turning into one and pulling a thick book off of the shelf there. He presented it to Shisui.

Shisui looked down with a raised brow and was stunned to find the book he was looking for. “How the he- What the fuck? How did you do that?”

Itachi narrowed his eyes and shushed him. 

Shisui realized his voice had gotten a bit loud in his surprise and laughed. “There’s like no one in this library, so I think we’re good. How did you know that was there?”

Itachi just kept giving him a disapproving glare and pushed the book towards him.

“I mean, you didn’t even look anything up! Don’t tell me this is your favorite book…”

Itachi lowered the book and seemed to huff a bit. “No. I work here. I’m familiar with the locations of a few books.”

“And… what? Are you telling me this book is in high demand? Court cases from last century? I’m calling bullshit.”

Itachi blew a piece of hair out of his face. “No. It’s not. Someone came in a few months ago looking for it. I restocked it when it was returned. I remembered the location. That’s all.”

“But wasn’t that a few months ago? Sure this place isn’t that busy, but there must have been a lot of books between then and now.”

“There were…” he says slowly, and Shisui gets the impression he’s only barely holding himself back from gritting his teeth.

“Then how-”

“I have a good memory,” he cuts him off shortly. “It is slow here, sometimes I skim the books before returning them.”

“Whoa. So do you remember all of them?”

Itachi shrugged, the motion a little strained.

“That’s so cool! You must know like every book in here!”

“No, I don’t.”

“That’s so cool though!” he raised his hand to take the book. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

It was only when Itachi tried and failed to completely raise the book again that Shisui realized that he was a total dick.

“ _Oh!_ Oh, shit! Sorry dude,” Shisui quickly took the book from him, “Oh yeah, Jesus this thing is heavy. Why didn’t you just say so?”

He only received a dry look. “Was there anything else you needed?”

 

A week later, Shisui made the mistake of catching sight of those damn boxes again. I really need to unpack those already… But instead he slammed his book shut, and chucked it onto the dinning table to return later. Another dead end. He figured. At this point, he was sure there wasn’t anything he could do for his client. That would be a fun phone call. He got up, grabbed a bottle off the wall and poured himself a full glass without thinking.

 

As Shisui dropped his book into the book return box outside the library, he had the sudden urge to go inside. He wasn’t sure what for, he had already dropped his previous case, and hadn’t picked up a new one yet, so there was nothing he needed. But still…

Before he knew what he was doing, he entered the building and walked up to the front desk. The same man from last week looked up at his approach.

He stood in front of Itachi. His face was the same as the first time he saw him, not any hint of recognition, and it made him unsure. “Hey, remember me?”

Itachi blinked. “Jacksonville 20th century Court Cases for First Degree Murder, Volume fifteen, correct?”

Shisui felt immensely disappointed for some reason. Then he remembered that he never told him his name. “Oh. Ha. You can just call me Shisui for short.”

Itachi smiled slightly, a gleam in his eyes that Shisui couldn’t name. “I know.”

“What? How did you…” Shisui stared at him with wide eyes.

Itachi only tilted his head for a moment, but eventually he answered, “It was on your library card.”

“Oh,” he laughed, feeling a little stupid.

“Did you need something?”

“Oh... Yeah. A book.”

Itachi waited.

“A... uh. Fiction one.” What the hell was he doing?

“…And its title was…?”

“I… uh… don’t remember,” he said with a laugh.

Itachi didn’t seem to find it as funny.

“It was like… a modern fairy tale. I dunno. You got anything like that?” Oh God someone please shut him up.

“There are many books like that… you’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Well, just- Anything like that I guess is fine,” he finished lamely.

Itachi gave him a considering look before getting up and heading into the library. Shisui followed him and mentally continued smacking himself on the head. What the hell was he doing? When is he going to have the time to read some shitty fiction novel? But he hadn’t wanted to leave just yet, and it wasn’t like they had anything to talk about.

Before he could regret his choices too much, a book was being pushed into his hands.

He looked down at it before looking back up into Itachi’s patient gaze and laughed. “Oh right, you just do your freaky photo memory thing.”

“It’s a little difficult to look up one specific book traditionally with the vague specifications you gave me.”

“Oh, haha, I guess…” He trailed off, staring at the book. He was reluctant to move, still not wanting to leave just yet. He didn’t want to get checked out, then go back home to his empty, bland apartment and stew in the frustration of his most recent failure. He needed to pick up another case, but the idea almost made him sick.

He became a private detective to help people. He wanted to be the hope for cases that had gone cold, that the police had given up on or plain wouldn’t take, believing to be nothing there. He wanted to bring justice to murderers and some peace to the victims and their loved ones.

But reality always had a way of crushing such idealistic fantasies. Those cases had gone cold for a reason. A person was considered dead if missing for a long enough time for a reason. A lot of the cases he took were ones that no one else would take, and it was for a reason. More often than not, his cases would fall through, and he’d end up chasing every thread of a lead only to come up with nothing. There was not a single time that this didn’t hurt him terribly.

But what hurt the most was when he had to inform him clients, who looked to him as their last hope, that there was nothing he could do. He’d spent yesterday making such a call. His client was a woman in her 50s, whose mother was murdered in this town when she was a child. At the time, she had only been reported missing, but the family was convinced her husband had murdered her. They were right, at least about the murder. He had managed to find and identify her skull, the gaping hole of a gunshot through it told him of a violent demise. 

But that was all he could find. The woman had begged him to keep trying, but he had been exhausting every possible action he could take for months now, and short of a séance to try and find the culprit, he was out of options. Her tearful begging still echoed around in his head, along with all of the other distressed, agonized clients he had failed over the years.

A soft touch on his arm brought him back to reality. He jerked and met the gaze of Itachi, who had moved closer and put his hand on his arm. He was giving Shisui a strange, intense expression, like he was hurting, but at the same time, it held a softness.

“Whatever it is… It’ll be okay,” he told Shisui softly, his voice deep and compassionate.

Then Shisui realized he was a grown man standing in the middle of a public library, crying in front of a stranger for seemingly no reason. Horror and embarrassment ran through his entire being.

“Maybe it won’t be all better… Maybe it’ll take a long time… But one day, it’ll be okay. It’ll be enough,” Itachi murmured, dark eyes bearing deeply into his. He had never felt so exposed in his life. It was like the man was staring into his bare essence, seeing and knowing everything about him, even the parts he never wanted anyone to see.

Shisui stared back down at the book in his hands, escaping that probing gaze. They both stood in silence for a few minutes while Shisui collected himself.

“Yeah. I think you’re right,” Shisui said slowly. “Sorry,” he added.

Itachi was quiet for a moment before Shisui felt him lightly squeeze his arm. Shisui lifted his gaze again slowly.

Itachi’s expression was much more soft now, but still equally probing. “Do you need anything?”

Shisui’s mind went blank.

Yeah.

Yeah, he did.

Suddenly, he had an idea. “Well… actually… this wasn’t the book I was looking for…” A stupid idea, but…

Itachi’s brow furrowed in confusion. He glanced down at the book for a second. “I thought you didn’t remember…” he said slowly, looking a little lost.

“I don’t but,” he made a humming noise and closed his eyes, “it’s coming back to me, I think.” 

 

* * *

“You were pretty okay,” Naruto says coyly. At Sasuke’s look, he adds, “Just want to make sure you don’t get too big of a head after all those tips.”

“I hardly need you to look out for me.”

“It’s what friends are for!”

Sasuke starts walking down the street and Naruto falls into step next to him. Sasuke cuts a suspicious look at him. “What do you want?”

“Ya know… I was thinking. I think I found the way to your heart!”

“Oh, did you?”

“Yup! You were a cold bastard until I mentioned buying you food. It must be your weakness!”

Sasuke scoffs. Well he wasn’t wrong…

“Are you offering?”

Naruto’s visage brightens. “Are you accepting?”

“Hm. Maybe, if you’re paying, ” he returns with a coy little smile.

“Alright!” Naruto cheers. “This is great! You only got to try one bowl last time, and trust me, they’re all good!”

“I think not. It’s my turn to pick.”

Naruto looks flabbergasted. “W-what? But-!”

“I feel like Italian…” Sasuke ponders, ignoring Naruto’s spluttering.

“Wha- So like… Olive Garden?”

Not if you’re paying. “There’s a nicer place closer to downtown.”

Naruto’s eyes narrow into a comically offended expression. “Oh I see how it is. Sasuke, you are such a gold digger!”

Sasuke smirks but doesn’t reply, pulling out his phone. He starts typing a new message to his brother.

“Don’t ignore me!” Naruto tries to peek over at his phone. “What ‘cha doing?”

Sasuke pulls his phone to his chest and shoots him a glare. “None of your business.”

“Alright! Sheesh. I was just asking,” he mutters under his breath, then something else unintelligible.

Satisfied his privacy won’t be violated anymore, Sasuke returns to typing. He sends Itachi a quick text to not expect him for dinner. But speaking of his brother…

“We’re taking a detour,” Sasuke informs him.

Naruto, of course, bitches about it, but Sasuke doesn’t change his mind in the slightest. They swing by the local pharmacy, and Naruto waits outside while Sasuke gets whatever it is he’s getting inside.

Not too much later, Sasuke walks out folding a piece of paper and putting it into the pocket of his hoodie.

Naruto raises a brow. “What’s that?”

Sasuke glances at him, and Naruto’s sure he almost tells him to mind his own business again before he seems to change his mind. “It’s a flyer. The pharmacy is advertising flu shots. I heard backstage today that the flu has started going around.”

“So you’re going to… what? Read up on it?”

Sasuke glares at him. “Mind your own business.”

 

Naruto is sitting in a booth of the slightly more upscale Olive Garden, watching Sasuke devour his caprese salad in the dim lighting.

Sasuke notices his staring. “What,” he asks sharply.

“Uh. Hehe. Nothing. You’re really digging that, huh?” he teases.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. “I don’t want to hear anything from _you_ ,” he says and shoves another bite of tomato and cheese into his mouth. Honestly, it wasn’t like Sasuke was stuffing his face like Naruto had last week.

Naruto drums his fingers against the table. “Anyways, when’d you start playing guitar? And writing songs?”

“Ten,” Sasuke grunts absent-mindedly, still focused on his salad. He had picked up the guitar after his brother had learned it during one of his phases. When they were younger, it seemed like Itachi was always picking up something new and learning everything about it before moving onto something else. Sasuke had thought his music phase was one of the coolest; he loved listening to his brother practicing various instruments. Back then, he idolized the hell out of everything his big brother did, and he had begged his brother to teach him how to play every instrument he brought home too. And he did, but for the most part, only the basics. By the time he had finally managed that, almost two years later, Itachi had mostly gotten over his music phase and had moved onto something else. He spent a bit longer on the guitar and piano, since Sasuke was most interested in those, but Sasuke had to learn and practice a lot on his own to get where he was today. And the songwriting was just a natural part of learning for him.

“Wow. That’s pretty young.”

“Yeah.”

Naruto coughs. “So, uh. What do you like to do most? The guitar, keyboard, or sing?”

Sasuke glances up at him dryly but tilts his head in thought after a moment. “Hm. I dunno. It all kind of goes together for me,” he says honestly.

“Oh, I feel ya! But, hm. I like playing guitar the most! And singing. I do back up vocals for my band too, but I think I could lead! Sakura says my range isn’t good enough,” he pouts at this. “But what does she know? She has the singing voice of a frog,” Naruto grumbles under his breath.

Sasuke only stares at him and continues to eat his salad.

“You know, you aren’t very good at conversation, huh? I almost feel like you’re just using me for a free meal,” Naruto says, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“I am.”

“Hey!”

They finish their meal mostly in silence. Naruto occasionally attempts to draw Sasuke into conversation, but fails for the most part, only getting short, clipped sentences in response or a shrug.

While they wait for Naruto’s card to come back, Sasuke can see Naruto scrambling to find something to say. He feels a bit bad; it’s not like he’s miserable, or doesn’t want to be here. He supposes he was just tired from his show, not to mention he had to get up earlier today because his show was at an earlier time. Itachi practically dragged him out of bed and kicked him out of the house when he got home from the library.

“Hey,” Naruto starts a little hesitantly, “wanna catch a movie after this?”

“Aren’t you supposed to do that before the dinner?”

“No, because the candy is like the dessert!” he says with a cheerful grin.

“And you just thought of it.”

He rubs his neck sheepishly with a chuckle. “And I just thought of it,” he agrees.

“What’s even playing?”

“Oh, I dunno. They just play random movies. Some are really old.”

Sasuke makes a slightly disgusted face.

“But you get two or three for the price of one! There’s two showings a night, an early one and a late one. If we go now, we can catch the late one.”

Sasuke tilts his head, confused. “What the hell kind of theater is that?”

Naruto chuckles nervously. “Well… it’s a drive-in theater.”

Sasuke deadpans.

“A drive-in.”

“…Yup,” Naruto says with a smile.

“…Is your car nearby?”

“…Nope,” he replies, still smiling.

Sasuke blinks. “Alright, I give up. What exactly is your plan here?”

Naruto scrunches his nose up in thought. “Well… we could always sneak in or something, or peek through the fence…”

Sasuke’s look lets him know exactly how fond of that idea he is.

Naruto pouts. “Or not. Geez.”

Naruto sulks as his card is returned to their table. His motions of putting his card away are clearly crestfallen. Sasuke rolled his eyes. If Itachi found out, he’d kill him, but…

“Fine.”

Naruto looks up at him sharply as they both rise from the table. “What?”

“I said ‘fine.’ Let’s go.”

Naruto’s entire body radiates excitement. “Aw hell yeah! It’ll be totally cool, trust me! Oh, we have to hurry,” he grabs Sasuke’s arm, Sasuke’s eyes going a bit wide, and leads him out, “It’s starting soon, and we still have to get the snacks!”

Sasuke lets Naruto lead him out of the restaurant by his arm without protest.

 

* * *

Sometimes, Itachi finds his work to be therapeutic. Never his convenience store job though, that one was torturous on a good day and Hell on just about every other. But he does enjoy his day job more than he ever expected to. Perhaps it is the quiet, calm atmosphere that-

_Tink_

…Perhaps it is the quiet, calm atmosphere that never fails to put him at ease. The place is cozy, with dark, stained wood and dark green carpet, but his desk is especially so. He doesn’t put up photos of his family, or decorate in any manner, but he does keep one of the drawers to himself. It has a small notebook—for whenever the mood hits him to draw or write—a small packet of tissues, several pens, his inhaler, and a few sheets of stickers, for when the school children come to visit. They have official stickers, but they are awfully dull, and Itachi figured the kids were more likely to keep them on if they could also pick their own smaller, cuter ones to stick on top.

_Tink_

…Currently, he is typing in details for a recent shipment of books into their system. His fingers fly across the keyboard with practiced ease. The feeling of checking boxes and sorting details and entering new books into their library is just so satisfying. And maybe it’s a little prudent, but the sound and feeling of his typing always makes him feel accomplished.

_Tink_

Distantly: “Oh, oops.”

Itachi’s fingers freeze over the keyboard. He cuts his eyes over to his forced companion for the evening, currently bending over to retrieve an M&M he had dropped onto the floor.

Itachi had already told him an hour ago that no food was allowed in the library, but Shisui promised to pick them up if any dropped on the floor and that he wouldn’t touch anything with chocolaty fingers. Itachi wasn’t entirely thrilled about that, if only for the principle of the matter, but he also figured it didn’t really matter, so he let him be.

Shisui adds his soiled M&M to the collection on the table before sitting on top of it again. He retrieves another M&M from one of the bags he got at the vending machine and tosses it up into the air. It hits his forehead before falling onto the table with a _tink._

It’s then that Shisui notices him staring. He laughs, “Oh, of course you look now. If you were looking about 10 seconds ago, you’d be very impressed right now.”

Itachi eyes the large collection of M&Ms on the table. He doubts that.

“Are you done?”

“No.”

“… Are you almost done?”

Itachi rolls his eyes. “I already told you, I don’t have time to indulge you today. I do actually have to work sometimes.”

Shisui pouts. Itachi returns to his work with a small smile.

 

Later, as he’s stirring a pot of stew he had just finished, he gets Sasuke’s text to not expect him for dinner. His eye twitches. He stares at the pot on the stove for a long minute before flicking the burner off. He moves it off to the side and places a lid on it.

Itachi watches the condensation from the hot stew collect and run on the inside of the lid. He wonders what Sasuke’s doing, if he’s with anyone. His heart clenches painfully, and he knows he’s over reacting, but everything about Sasuke worries him. He’s reckless and doesn’t think things through before acting; the only rules he follows are his own, and he has a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble. 

Or, at least, tempting trouble.

He chews slowly on a small bowl of beef stew and rice before getting ready to head to his night job. He places the leftovers in plastic containers but leaves them out in case Sasuke wanted some for what would probably be his lunch.

As he locks the door behind himself, heart still in his throat, he hopes that Sasuke knows what he’s doing, whatever it is.

 

* * *

“This is stupid.”

“Aw, come on! You can’t chicken out now!”

“I’m not. This is just stupid.”

“We already got the Skittles and everything!”

“You did, you mean.”

“Uh, yeah. Because I’m _normal._ What weirdo picks blueberries as a movie snack instead of candy?!”

“It’s nature’s candy. And I can go without your gross sugarcoated sugar.”

“You monster… Don’t ever insult Skittles like that again.”

Together, they sneak around to the side gate, and peek in through the cracks of the old wooden fence.

“There,” Sasuke says, pulling away and pointing to the dumpster near the front and off to the side of the parking lot and screen.

Naruto leans back in to see what he means. He scrunches up his nose. “A dumpster? That’s a terrible idea!”

“Where else are we supposed to go? Sit in front of a car? We get a clear view and cover so that no one notices us.”

Naruto doesn’t look convinced. “But it’ll be stinky…”

“Yeah? Well maybe if you’d had half a brain, you would have thought ahead and brought your car. So tough it out.” Sasuke grabs leverage on the fence and hoists himself up.

Naruto squawks and yanks him back down by the back of his shirt.

“The hell are you doing, moron?!” Sasuke demands as he lands hard on his feet.

“I was just about to ask you the same! I thought you were concerned with getting caught. We should go over there and jump the fence, no one will see us behind the dumpster. Probably.”

Sasuke quirks a brow, “You mean to the front? Where all the cars are facing? And I meant getting caught after the movie started. It hasn’t yet, it’s still plenty dark enough to cover us.”

“Well, we have to keep in mind the goods,” Naruto holds up the 6-pack of bottled margaritas they bought earlier. “It’ll be harder with these, and more likely that we get spotted.”

“Hmph. And you called me a coward?”

Naruto bristles. He shoves the 6-pack into Sasuke’s arms and pulls himself up on the gate. However, that’s about as far as he gets before he starts awkwardly feeling his foot around to look for higher leverage to pull himself over.

“Do you… not know how to jump a fence? This whole thing was your idea, idiot!”

“I do! It’s just… been a while.” Finally, he lifts his arms and grabs the top, pulling himself up to his chest. “Aha! See! I can- oh shit,” he trails off after one of his feet starts slipping. He scrambles to find purchase.

“Hurry up and get over! You’re going to draw attention like that.”

“I’m trying, asshole!” Naruto tries lifting his leg up higher into the air, and something falls out of his pocket onto the ground. “Ah, shit! My Skittles!”

Oh for the love of God.

Sasuke sets the 6-pack down and places his blueberry container on top of it. He walks up and grabs one of Naruto’s legs.

“Hey! What are you- Oh jeez,” Naruto’s protests cut off into curses as Sasuke starts pushing him up. “What are you _doing?”_

“You have to move your center of gravity over the top if you ever want to get anywhere, moron.”

“My _what?”_

Sasuke grits his teeth. “Move. Your damn. _Ass._ Over. The fence.”

With their combined efforts, Naruto finally manages to get his top half cleared over the fence.

“Now pull yourself over.”

“Right. Easy,” Naruto says as he shakily tries to find purchase on the other side. He starts lifting up one foot to try and messily find a foothold. On his last failed attempt, he kicks Sasuke in the face.

_For the love of God._

Sasuke grabs both of Naruto’s ankles and hefts them up into the air, causing Naruto to flip over the fence with a small scream. Luckily, there are horizontal planks on the other side, easy leverage, and Naruto manages to hold on for dear life.

“Holy shit! You bastard! What the hell was that for?! You almost broke my neck!” Naruto whisper-screeched. “What’s the big idea you- _SHIT!”_

Sasuke hears him scramble before he hears a _thunk_ from the other side.

“… Are you dead?”

“So that _was_ your goal…” Naruto’s pained whisper comes through the gate.

Sasuke scoffs. “Quit complaining. You kicked me first. Get up so I can hand you the stuff.”

“Oh shit! Don’t forget my Skittles! Poor things... I abandoned them!”

Sasuke rolls his eyes but grabs the Skittles off the ground. He easily hands them off along with the blueberries but struggles a bit with the 6-pack.

“Yeah, not as easy as it looks, is it bastard?!” Naruto jeers from below.

“Take the fucking drinks before I drop them on your head,” Sasuke replies, dark eyes promising just that.

Naruto gingerly takes the drinks and sets them on the ground.

Sasuke pulls himself up and over completely, and is halfway down when he freezes after catching sight of Naruto moving in the corner of his eye. He looks over to him, curious. He’s… holding his arms up?

Sasuke gives him a _‘what the hell are you doing?’_ look.

“I’ll catch you,” Naruto whispers seriously.

Sasuke’s brows shoot up and his face warms. He laughs after a moment and hops down the rest of the way, landing to the side of Naruto.

Naruto grumbles under his breath while Sasuke picks up his blueberries and starts heading over to the dumpster. They stick close to the side of the fence, a good distance from any parked vehicles, thankful for the decorative bushes and small trees that line the gate.

Sasuke leans back onto the cold metal of the dumpster while Naruto settles to his left, farthest from the screen.

“You know, these seats suck…” Naruto says.

“You’re such a baby. I don’t even smell anything.”

“No, not that. I meant the view! Also it’s freezing.”

That is true. They are far off to the side, on the very edge of the parking lot, and the screen is high above them. The film would surely be playing at a rather unflattering angle.

“Well we wouldn’t have had to worry about that if you’d brought a car.”

Naruto makes an offended noise. “Well, we’d also have to pay, and you’re an expensive enough date as it is.”

Sasuke only gives him a coy look and fights down the excited feeling in his chest. “Pass me one,” he changes the subject.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure,” Naruto says. He reaches over to his left to pull out a margarita. “Oh wait, oh shit. Dude. We are so stupid.”

“What is it?”

“We don’t have a bottle opener!”

Sasuke makes a _pft_ noise. “You only just thought of that?”

“Don’t worry, dude, I can totally trick shot this for you. Hold on,” Naruto says as he scans the dumpster they are leaning against.

“Just give it to me, I can open it myself.”

“No, no. I got this.” Naruto hooks the top on the underside of the dumpster and pulls. It doesn’t come off on the first pull, but on the second, Naruto doubles his force and a generous splash of alcohol is spilled between them.

Sasuke jumps away. “What the fuck! You’re such an idiot!”

“Hey, what are you talking about?! I got it open for you! Here,” he says, holding out the bottle to Sasuke. “You’re welcome,” he adds with a cheeky grin.

Sasuke wrinkles his nose. “I don’t think so. You keep your dumpster beverage. I’ll open my own.”

Naruto frowns. “But-”

“Give. It.”

Naruto huffs. “Fine. I’d like to see you do any better,” he grumbles as he hands Sasuke another unopened bottle.

Sasuke reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dark… rectangle thing.

Naruto squints and leans forward a bit. “What the hell is-”

Sasuke flicks it open. Moonlight glints on the sharp edge.

Naruto jerks back with wide eyes. “Holy fuck! Is that a knife?! Is that a _switchblade?!_ Are those legal?!”

Sasuke cuts a glare in his direction, but he can’t keep the smirk off his face. “Keep your voice down, idiot.” He wedges the blade under the bottle cap. “You mean concealed? In this state, no,” he says simply and pops the bottle cap off with a twist.

Naruto gapes at him.

Sasuke, still amused, takes a swig. After he downs a few gulps and pockets his blade, he turns back to find Naruto still staring at him. His expression is different now though—he closed his mouth for one—but his eyes are still a bit wide and intense. But it’s a kind of intensity Sasuke has never seen on him before. Before, there was intent there; Sasuke didn’t know _what_ , but he knew this man wanted something from him. Now though, there was a distance in his gaze, like he was watching from afar.

“What?” Sasuke eventually asks, uncomfortable.

“Hm? Oh, nothing,” he replies and settles back against the dumpster crate.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. “Bullshit. What is it?”

Naruto chuckles. Light pours abruptly on them and flashes over Naruto’s face, showing Sasuke his sheepish expression. “Nothing. Just my daddy warned me about boys like you,” he brushes off. 

Sasuke snorts. He drops the matter for now and turns to face the screen.

 

Three bottles in, Sasuke decides that he has never been more bored. The first movie was entertaining, he supposes. It was an old horror film that he hadn’t seen before. Not that this said much, he isn’t much of a horror fan in the first place. The most amusing part was when some chick got her throat slit by the killer, and Sasuke had blurted: “That’s not realistic at all,” to which Naruto gave him a horrified look that made Sasuke chuckle.

But this second film is testing his patience along with his attention span. From what he could tell, it’s a modern romantic drama, with stale characters fighting for a love that Sasuke could not care less about.

Sasuke swerves his head towards Naruto, and when the whole world swerves with him, he thinks that maybe he’s more drunk than he thought.

“Hey,” he calls.

Naruto gives a crooked smile. “Yeah?”

“Open your mouth.”

Naruto gapes and splutters. “Wh-what?! What the fuck?!”

Sasuke grins. “Yeah, like that. But more still.”

Naruto looks like he’s choking. “Uh. What?”

“Just do it.”

Naruto hesitantly complies. Sasuke picks up a blueberry from his little container and throws it at Naruto’s face, the berry bouncing off his nose.

“Ack! What the hell?!”

“Hold still, dumbass.” Sasuke tosses another berry, this time hitting the side of Naruto’s mouth.

Naruto is laughing now. “What are you doing? You’re really bad at this,” he chuckles.

“I am not. You just can’t hold still.”

“Alright, Alright. Take another shot, captain!” Naruto assumes position.

Sasuke takes a little longer this time to steady his hand and aim his shot. Naruto does a cheering motion when Sasuke makes it this time. But when he chews, his face scrunches up in disgust.

“Ew. Tastes nasty.”

“It’s probably because you ruined your taste buds with those,” Sasuke nods to the empty bag of Skittles in his lap.

Naruto sticks his tongue out at him.

Sasuke gives him a very unimpressed look and pops a berry in his mouth. He did have to admit, they did taste a bit strange along with the margaritas he’d been drinking, but he was hardly going to admit that to Naruto. Naruto turns back to the screen. Sasuke lets him—for a while at least—but it’s not long before he’s bored again.

“Hey,” he calls over again.

Naruto turns to glare at him a bit. “Not now! Adam’s about to confront his dad!” He returns his attention back to the screen.

Sasuke scoffs, offended. This is the shittiest date he’s ever been on. He sulks back against the dumpster and finishes off his berries. Asshole. If he didn’t want to talk to Sasuke, then Sasuke wouldn’t talk to him either.

Sasuke pouts throughout the rest of the film and stubbornly keeps his gaze on the screen until the credits finish rolling and the screen goes dark. It’s only when he hears slight sniffling does he peek over again.

“You have to be kidding,” Sasuke deadpans.

Naruto finishes wiping his face on his sleeve. “What? It was a touching ending! Adam and Jenny worked so hard!”

Sasuke drops the side of his head against the crate. “Those were both terrible, torturous movies, albeit in different ways,” he grumbles.

“What?! Okay, the first one was pretty bad, but how could you not like that one?” Sasuke blinks slowly at him. “Okay, it was kinda boring and stupid at first, but shit got intense at the end there!”

“You just liked all the pointless yelling and shallow drama.”

“That’s not true,” Naruto makes a face, “you seem to be the one who likes shallow drama, jerk.”

“Is that what you think,” Sasuke asks, tone uninterested.

“Yeah. You know, you’re kinda-”

They both freeze at the roar of an engine turning and headlights suddenly lighting up from behind. An echoing chorus of engines is heard as the vehicles begin to start up and leave. They both keep quiet as headlights pass over the dumpster one by one. They stare at each other in silence until a decent amount of time passes since the last car passed by.

“You think everyone’s gone?”

Sasuke shrugs. “Probably.”

“…Should we check?”

“Be my guest.”

Naruto huffs. “You’re useless.”

They sit in silence for a bit longer.

“Well… we should probably go, huh?” Naruto says slowly, getting up.

Sasuke attempts to do the same, but the ground damn nearly falls out from under him, so he slides back down against the dumpster crate. “Mm, I think I’m good here for a bit,” he mumbles, head spinning.

“Shit, dude. How drunk are you?” Naruto’s brow furrows. “Well I guess I have to walk you home now.”

Sasuke feels a stab of anger, because Naruto’s tone sounded a bit more annoyed than he liked. Wasn’t this idiot usually begging Sasuke to let him walk him home?

“Fuck off. I’m staying here for a bit. Then I’m walking home. Alone.”

Naruto’s eyebrows are drawn together tight and his face has a deep frown. “You’re just going to sit here alone, drunk off your ass, for hours in a dark, empty parking lot?”

“Yup,” Sasuke pops his lips a bit on the ‘p.’

Naruto groans loudly before settling down back next to him.

Sasuke raises a questioning eyebrow.

“Shut up. I’d be a total scumbag if I just _left_ you.”

Sasuke tilts his head. “Not really.”

Naruto scoffs. “Uh, yeah _really._ You could get murdered!”

“I have a knife.”

“Oh just shut up.”

Sasuke rolls his head back against the hard metal of the crate and settles more comfortably against it. They sit there quietly for a long time, the only sounds coming from the road in front of the entrance and the scuffling of them adjusting their positions on the hard concrete. Despite being so uncomfortable after lounging on such hard surfaces for so long, Sasuke somehow feels relaxed. Sasuke closes his eyes to bask in the feeling and starts to doze.

He jerks back awake with a heavy head and blinks around sleepily. Naruto’s in just about the same position, so he figures he couldn’t have been out very long. Although the slight crick in his neck would disagree, Sasuke thinks with a roll of his neck. Even though his head is still heavy with alcohol and sleep, he notices his stomach is calmer and the world isn’t turning as much, so he figures he might get to go home soon.

Sasuke rolls his head, now leaning back against the crate, over to look at Naruto. He is crouched over one leg close to his chest, the other crossed under him. He is unusually quiet, Sasuke notices. Usually he is making some sort of noise, knocking or tapping against something, or just talking in his obnoxiously loud voice. But now he’s only quietly tapping a finger on the leg of his jeans. He looks a little annoyed. Is he still upset with Sasuke for inconveniencing him? Sasuke feels his temper flare again. He didn’t ask for him to fucking babysit him. He could take care of himself. And if he didn’t want to be here so bad, then why didn’t he just fucking leave? Why was he here?

And that is what confuses Sasuke the most. What exactly are they doing? Sasuke knows that whatever this is, or would be, it wouldn’t last for one reason or another. For one, Itachi and himself hopped towns every year or so, and their time here would run out eventually. But he wanted… Well he isn’t sure what he wanted. Or maybe that isn’t true. He wants to feel… Sasuke digs his nails into his leg. He didn’t know what he wanted to feel. Maybe he just wanted to feel _something._ But that doesn’t really explain why Naruto is here, and the question of why is a constant weight on Sasuke’s mind.

“Hey,” Sasuke calls over softly, voice cracking a bit.

Naruto glances at him from the corner of his eye. “What.”

Sasuke blinks slowly at him, considering. “What are you doing here?”

Naruto lets out a short laugh and runs a hand over his head, clearly exasperated. “Dude, I’ve been here all fucking night. Shit, how smashed are you?”

Sasuke glares. “No, you idiot. I mean…” Sasuke gestures vaguely around them with a hand, “What are you doing here?”

Naruto’s slight annoyance seems to fade and he looks caught off guard. After his surprise fades, he turns his head away and scratches behind his ear. Then he starts chuckling.

Sasuke’s mouth twists to the side. “What.”

“Ha. It’s nothing. Just funny. It’s actually… well… Because of you actually,” he laughs nervously.

Sasuke raises a brow.

Naruto only makes eye contact for a second before glancing away again. “Actually… I saw you perform at the festival they had in August downtown. And well… I heard you played around here so… I’m traveling around with my band so it’s not like we really have to be anywhere, and we’re constantly moving anyways so… I decided that we’d stop by here for a while.”

Sasuke blinks, eyes wide. That… wasn’t what he meant to ask. He thinks for a moment.

“…So you actually did stalk me.”

“What? Oh God, don’t start that again,” Naruto huffs. “I wasn’t following _you._ I was following your music, I guess.”

Sasuke doesn’t know what to make of that. He sits quietly, thinking over what the other has just told him.

“Well, what about you?” Naruto asks suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts.

“Hm?”

“What are you doing here?”

Sasuke thinks for a long moment. “It’s out of the way… My brother picked it. I didn’t really get a say.”

Naruto looks a little surprised. “Oh! You have a brother? You seemed like the only child type to me,” he laughs when Sasuke glares at him a little. Then he tilts his head and wrinkles his nose a bit. “Why didn’t your brother let you help with picking a place if you were going to live there too?”

“Because I didn’t care.”

“Pft. That’s fair enough I guess.” Naruto turns his body to face him more fully. “So… older or younger brother?”

“Older.”

“Hey, me too! I’m the oldest in my family. Two brothers and a sister. There’s a pretty big age gap though, my oldest brother is still in middle school.”

Sasuke struggles to find something to say. “And the youngest?”

Naruto’s eyes light up and he pulls out his phone. “She’s so cute! She started fourth grade this year.” Naruto scrolls through his phone until he finds what he’s looking for and shoves the screen in Sasuke’s face.

It’s a picture of a little girl with bright red hair. She’s in the arms of a woman whose face isn’t in the shot, but has long, cascading hair of the same shade falling all around her. Even though their hair is nothing alike—the girls’ long and straight while Naruto’s is short and sticking up everywhere—he can see the resemblance in their faces. They both have the same noses and rounded, almond shaped eyes. Sasuke notices that the girl’s eyes are a pretty shade of blue, standing out starkly against her red hair. At first, Sasuke files it as another way the siblings look different, before he realizes he doesn’t know what color Naruto’s eyes are. Sasuke hadn’t noticed before, with all of their meetings taking place in such dim lighting, but now he finds himself curious.

Sasuke looks up into Naruto’s eyes that are eagerly awaiting him. Of course, it’s far too dark to tell. “She’s cute,” he says simply, unsure of what he’s supposed to say, and takes the phone out of Naruto’s hand.

“Right?! I know every youngest child is the family favorite, but she is so precious! She looks just like Mom! Oh but Mom spoils her _rotten._ She said she wouldn’t stop until she had a daughter, and now that she has one she lets her get away with _everything._ And Dad’s no help either,” Naruto grumbles.

Sasuke, who had been fiddling around with the phone, finds the flashlight button.

“Ack! What are you doing?!” Naruto flinches and shields his face when Sasuke points it at him.

“Hold still. I want to see something.”

“Are you trying to blind me, you jerk?! Get it out of my eyes!”

“That’d defeat the point,” Sasuke grumbles but lowers it a bit. “Just look over here and stop being a baby.”

“The hell, dude?” Naruto cuts a cautious glance over once he deems it safe enough. His eyes are squinted and blinking rapidly from the assault, but this time Sasuke catches a flash of that same pretty shade of blue.

After a moment of staring, Sasuke taps the phone screen, turning off the flashlight, and hands the phone back. “You and your sister have the same eyes.”

Naruto blinks at him, confused. “Uh. Yeah?”

“So. What about your other siblings?”

Naruto’s face instantly brightens again, and Sasuke finds himself thinking how much he likes that. “Oh! Those two are so funny!” Naruto’s face twists a bit to the side. “And huge brats!”

Sasuke listens quietly to Naruto ramble on and on about his troublemaker siblings, glad he can just listen and not have to contribute anything. He’s a bit out of his depth trying to keep up a conversation, as he’s usually trying to avoid them at all costs, so the break is a relief. Naruto recounts to him various tales of his and his brothers’ pranks and antics in their childhood, all with animated gestures of excitement. Sasuke wonders if that’s what normal brothers are like. Itachi and him only played together when they were infants. After that, the two of them just sitting in a room together counted as spending quality time. And for a while, while they lived with their guardian, they barely even talked to each other.

The memories of those days brought his previous light, bubbly mood crashing down on him, heavy and suffocating, and suddenly, all he wants is to go home.

His sudden soberness must have been more obvious than he thought, because Naruto stops his story and gives him a worried look.

“What’s wrong?”

Sasuke clenches his fist. God, he hates that question. “Nothing. I think I’m ready to go home,” he says quietly and starts getting up, a lot steadier than the last time he tried to.

Naruto’s brow furrows. “Oh, alright. You sure I can’t walk you home?”

Oh, so _now_ he wants to. But Sasuke considers everything that happened tonight for a long moment before making up his mind.

“Well, if you’re coming over next week, you’ll need to know where it is anyways.”

Naruto makes a surprised, excited sound.

Sasuke just gives him a coy smirk.

 

* * *

Itachi arrives home to a flyer waiting for him on the kitchen counter. He stands there, practically seeing red over a single flimsy sheet of paper, in his cold, dark kitchen for a long time.

 

The next day, Sasuke finds it crumpled in the trashcan and fights down the urge to scream and punch a hole in the wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me last chapter: there is hardly going to be any romance in this so if you're here for that you're going to be disappointed!!!  
> Me this chapter: rubs my little sns hands all over the place.  
> In my defense I just said it wasn't going to be the focus, or main conflict, not that there wouldn't be a lot lol  
> Don't expect me to update this fast ever again. I just got excited.  
> (about the siblings: I always figured that, had minato and kushina lived longer than the birth of their first child, they would have had more children and had a big family, so that's what that's about).


	3. The Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing is hard. This chapter is long.  
> My joke title for this one is “An unstoppable force meets an unmovable object” lol

Sasuke wakes to the sound of his brother’s morning routine, as he often does. But for once, he doesn’t mind it. He’s well rested, and his eyes don’t sting when he blinks them open and stretches his limbs.

Naruto still has yet to come over, despite it being well over a week since they had made their agreement. But Sasuke had not wanted to move from his bed again, much less socialize, for a while after his last outing. It was about three weeks later when they finally went out again. But that didn’t stop Naruto from blowing up his phone in the meantime.

Speaking of which…

Sasuke rolls over and grabs his phone off the nightstand.

_Morning jerk! You busy today?_

Sasuke smiles into his pillow. He can’t always keep up with him—sometimes only reading his messages and not responding, unsure of what to say to a lot of it—but just the same he has grown fond of having several messages awaiting him at any given moment. Sasuke has also grown rather fond of the other in general.

He is bright. Sasuke doesn’t have any other words to describe him. He can be rude—and thoughtless, that idiot—but he is fundamentally kind, warm. He has never met anyone like him. Sasuke feels himself being pulled into that light despite the logical part of him that screams at him to stop. He’s only setting the both of them up for heartbreak. But he can’t help it.

The whir of a hair dryer turns on in the living room.

He wants Naruto to come over today. Before he can over think it, he types a reply inviting him over and sends it, heart thumping in his ears. He expects an immediate response, but his phone is quiet in his hand, making Sasuke restless with the anticipation. It’s stupid though, because Sasuke can’t imagine him refusing, he’s been asking to come over since their agreement at the drive-in.

Sasuke tosses his phone on the nightstand and wanders out of bed into the living room to ease his restlessness. He finds his brother sitting on the far edge of the couch, hair pulled over his shoulder with his hand running through it while moving the hair dryer around. Sasuke sits down on the couch next to him, and Itachi finally notices him. 

He gives Sasuke a small smile. “Good morning. Sleep well?”

Sasuke grabs the hair dryer out of Itachi’s hand and points it at his brother’s face. Itachi, face flinching a bit from the assault, takes the hint and doesn’t say anything else as he turns around to face the wall. 

When Sasuke finishes drying and starts brushing his hair, Itachi can’t help it anymore. “Someone’s in a good mood.”

Sasuke yanks the brush harshly, tearing out a few strands.

Unfortunately, Itachi isn’t one to be deterred so easily. “You came home fairly late the other night,” he says casually.

“I decided to go out,” he replies, just as casually. But he knows this will only make his brother more suspicious. Sasuke doesn’t just _go out._ Especially not after a show, when he’s dead tired, especially not on the kind of day when Itachi has to pull his ear just to get out of bed. Confirming his thoughts, Itachi starts turning his head to face Sasuke.

He knows what his brother is trying to do. It seemed that no matter what Sasuke would say or do, his brother could always see straight through him. It’s honestly a little scary—and a lot annoying—how easily his brother can read him. He knows Itachi won’t push too far, but it’s clear he wants to know what Sasuke has been up to.

Sasuke hits him (lightly) over the top of his head with the brush to stop his movement. His brother flinches and makes a little surprised sound in his throat though, so maybe not so lightly. “Stay still,” Sasuke says, no nonsense, as he begins gathering all of his hair back into one hand.

Itachi makes a _humph_ noise as Sasuke starts separating his hair into three sections. “That won’t save you, Sasuke. I don’t need to see you to know you’re lying. Why did you ‘go out?’”

Sasuke figures as much, but he’ll take any advantage he can get. “I was hungry, and it’s not like we have much here.”

“Hm… What did you eat?”

God damn it. There is no way he can pull off the truth, but his brother would also surely be able to tell if he lies. He also realizes that he is pausing far longer than he should be at this point. He starts overlaying and twisting the sections of hair into a loose braid as he considers what to do. Eventually, he decides that it will be impossible to completely avoid suspicion anyways. “Ramen.”

This time, when Itachi tries to turn around again, Sasuke uses one hand to reach up and force his face forward. “I said stay _still_ , or you’re going to have a lopsided braid.”

“…I didn’t realize there was a place that served ramen around here.”

Sasuke gives a slight shrug and finishes the braid with a tie from around the brush. “Felt like something different,” he says, and flips the braid over Itachi’s shoulder.

Itachi examines his handiwork. “You are rather good at this.”

Sasuke smiles slightly.

Itachi locks his gaze onto him. “Not at deceiving me, though.”

Sasuke frowns.

Itachi smirks and pokes his forehead as he gets up from the couch to finish getting ready.

 

Later, after Itachi was long gone for work, Sasuke finds a mental health brochure waiting for him in the same place he had left Itachi the flyer. Before Sasuke can even think about it, he is tearing it in half.

How _dare_ he?! Is this retribution for when he tucked him in, over a month ago? Or for the flyer? Or is he upset about Sasuke’s recent unexplained absences? Probably all of the above, Sasuke thinks bitterly.

Sasuke stomps over to the trashcan and crumples up the torn brochure before throwing it in.

Then he suddenly remembers how Itachi had done the same to the flyer Sasuke had left him all those days ago. God…they were too alike.

They would never get anywhere like this.

* * *

_I’m going out tonight._

Itachi stares down at his phone for a long time, long after the screen had turned off from inactivity. He’s been at his night job for just over an hour now. It’s not the first he’s gotten. He’s received similar texts over the past two weeks. 

He doesn’t bother replying and sets his phone aside. He tries to return to his reading, but finds he can’t concentrate.

He had wondered if the first two, nearly two months ago now, would be isolated incidents. It seemed that way for a while, almost three weeks had past without incident, and Itachi figured that he had blown the whole thing out of proportion. But about two weeks ago he got another, and then more after that.

What is going on? Sasuke has yet to voluntarily give him even a shred of information about his current activities, and Itachi’s patience is beginning to thin. The alarm bells in his head are ringing so loudly he can’t think straight. It keeps him up at night, his mind going a thousand miles an hour and unable to do anything to stop it.

Distantly, Itachi registers someone walking into the store. He’s too busy having a minor mental breakdown to really take notice, but when the presence doesn’t move from the doorway, he looks up.

Oh for the love of...

“Fancy meeting you here!” Shisui glances him over with a disbelieving smile. 

Itachi is stunned into silence. The alarm bells already echoing in his mind increase another decibel. His expression darkens. “Did you follow me here?” His tone is deadly serious.

Shisui looks put off by his sudden dark demeanor. “Uh… No. Promise. It’s a small world huh? Or… small town, anyway.”

Itachi still looks wary. 

“What are you doing working all the way out here?” He looks around. “There aren’t even security cameras in here…” he trails off, a concerned pinch in his brow.

Indeed there are not. It was the reason Itachi had chosen this particular place of employment. The neighborhood is a small and close one, the owner told him. Itachi didn’t really care much for the reason, just that it suited his needs.

Shisui had been studying him with concern as Itachi kept his silence on the matter. 

“There are two outside,” Itachi found himself saying.

“Still… Are you the only one here? It’s pretty late…”

Itachi is torn between annoyance and guilt for worrying his… forced companion.

“Would you throw me out if I stayed here ‘til the end of your shift?”

“I don’t recommend that, I get off at two tonight.”

“I’m not hearing a ‘no.’”

“No. That would be loitering.”

Shisui makes an exaggerated gesture of scanning his surroundings. “Well I don’t see a sign telling me not to, so I think I’m in the clear, officer!”

Itachi presses down his annoyance. “I appreciate the concern, but I can handle myself, thank you.”

“But I’m a _professional._ I’m trained to apprehend people, actually. I don’t mean to brag but,” he brushes imaginary dust off his collar, “I’ve disarmed and apprehended _three_ people in my time.”

Itachi goes still, but Shisui doesn’t seem to notice. “Also, I took additional martial arts training on my own when I was younger.” He flashes Itachi a confident smile.

Itachi doesn’t miss that he doesn’t mention a specific discipline or belt rank. He stays quiet, letting the silence speak for him, but Shisui doesn’t seem to waver in the least.

“Do whatever you want,” Itachi finally relents with a sigh, too tired to continue arguing about it.

He doesn’t whoop in victory like Itachi expected him too, instead he just seems relieved. He comes around the counter and sits, leaning against it, on the floor to Itachi’s right.

Itachi raises an eyebrow at him. “That can’t be comfortable. I think there’s a chair in the back,” he offers quietly.

“Nah, I’m good. This way, nobody will notice me back here.”

Itachi doesn’t argue the point further and tries again to return to his reading.

“Cute braid, by the way. You had one the other day too. Feelin’ a new look?”

“Not really.” Sasuke has just been in a rather good mood lately.

“Well… it works,” Shisui says, clearly unsure of how to continue this conversation. And sure enough, they both lapse into silence.

But by this point, the annoyance Itachi had has faded, leaving him only with guilt. Itachi looks down at him from the corner of his eye. “Did you not come in here for something?”

“Hm?” Shisui glances up at him before looking away. “Ah, yeah. Well… I don’t need it anymore,” he says, running a hand through his dark, messy hair.

Itachi raises an eyebrow, but Shisui isn’t looking at him, and he doesn’t elaborate. Instead he seems to find the tile floors to be interesting.

Itachi isn’t sure what to make of that, and leaves Shisui to his brooding. They both fall into a somewhat awkward silence, with Shisui messing with his phone and Itachi staring a hole through his book, trying not to have an anxiety attack as he thinks of what sort of things his brother could be doing right now.

The entrance door opens again beside Itachi, catching his attention. He recognizes the woman who enters immediately. They share eye contact for a brief moment before Itachi returns to staring at his book, and the woman takes a few plastic bags from the counter before making her way towards the food aisles.

Shisui becomes especially still and quiet in his place behind the counter. Trying not to be detected, Itachi supposes.

The woman fills her bags and leaves quickly, Itachi not even glancing up as she passes him by on the way to the door. Shisui, seeming a bit confused, sits up a bit and looks out the storefront windows.

“Hey…”

“Hm?”

“I, uh, don’t want to tell you how to do your job or anything, but I think you just got robbed.”

Itachi shrugs.

Shisui leans back against the counter again, his brow furrowed. “You don’t care?”

“If someone’s desperate enough to steal food, they can have it.”

When Itachi doesn’t get a response to that, he drags his gaze down, curious. He finds Shisui facing his direction but not looking up at him, seemingly deep in thought.

“Won’t you get in trouble for that?”

“No, I write off the items as expired.”

“And that works?”

Itachi shrugs. “The owner is incredibly naïve.” Or incredibly lazy, Itachi still isn’t sure.

Shisui hums and rubs his chin. Suddenly, he laughs and looks up at Itachi with a wicked grin. “I guess this would be a bad time to tell you that I’m a cop.”

Itachi’s head whips around to face him, his eyes wide.

Shisui laughs loudly. “Kidding! I’m kidding! God, I’m sorry, your _face_ ,” he wheezes out between his laughter, writhing against the counter.

Itachi, more awake than he’s been in days, slowly comes down from the cold panic that had stunned him, his heart still beating loudly in his ears. He glares down at the other, who is still stifling laughter into his hand. “Funny.”

“Sorry, sorry. God, I didn’t know you could even _make_ a face like that.”

Itachi tilts his head. “And by that you mean…?”

Shisui shrugs, still chuckling slightly. “You aren’t exactly easily fazed.”

“Is that so…” his tone is neutral.

“Yeah, I thought so, but I guess I don’t exactly know you too well.” He looks up. “You don’t exactly talk a lot,” he says, his tone slightly teasing.

Itachi places a bookmark in his book and sets it aside, finally relenting that he won’t be getting any reading done tonight anyways. He turns on his revolving stool to face Shisui. He leans against the counter with his elbow and rests his head against his hand. “Neither do you. Not about anything of importance, at least.” His expression is unreadable.

Shisui studies him for a moment before laughing slightly. “Is this your way of asking?”

Itachi looks away, shrugging slightly.

Shisui huffs out a small laugh. “You’re cute. What do you wanna know?”

Itachi ignores his first comment and kicks one foot back against the stool, thinking. “Are you employed anywhere? You seem to have an awful lot of free time to bother me with.”

Itachi could immediately tell that he had struck a sore spot.

Shisui glances away, chuckling awkwardly. “I mean, yeah. I’m self-employed. I’m just… I guess I’m taking a bit of time off.” He runs a hand through his hair, still not meeting Itachi’s eyes.

Itachi decides to drop it for now. “I see.” He swings his leg and kicks the stool softly again. “Were you born here?” Not many people came to this town and stayed, he has learned in his time here.

Shisui turns back to look at him. “Nope, actually I- Well, hold on. This is weird.” He stands and hops up to sit on the counter. “Much better.” He reaches to rub the back of his neck. “I was going to get a crick in my neck at that rate.”

“What happened to not getting discovered?”

“Eh, whatever. Anyways, I moved here for my job over a year ago.”

Itachi tilts his head to rest his chin in his hand and hums.

“What about you?”

“I’ve been here for a few months…”

“Any particular reason you came here?”

“…’There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then never coming back.’”

Shisui blinks. Then he laughs, “ _What?_ ”

“Victor Hugo.”

“Oh my god, is that some old English Shakespearian shit?”

“No, like I said: Victor Hugo,” he replies with a small smirk.

Shisui rubs his face, still laughing lightly. “God, you are such a nerd.” When he looks back to Itachi, he is still wearing a small smirk, but his eyes have a glint to them. He’s not sure what it means, but it seems familiar; it’s like he knows something Shisui doesn’t.

And just like that, they start talking the night away. They both avoid more important topics, and instead keep to small talk. Itachi finds Shisui to be a rather charming person, very empathetic and funny, but also intelligent. He’s not really surprised; he knows most of the other’s foolishness is for Itachi’s amusement.

The light out front, the one that’s life had been flickering out slowly but surely, finally dies.

Itachi sits, face in his hand, and listens to Shisui talk for the rest of his shift. When he’s done, Shisui waits for him to lock up and walks out with him.

“Where’s your car?”

“I walk to work.”

Shisui looks at him like he’s crazy. “Why? That’s... Nevermind. Want me to give you a lift?”

“No.”

Shisui glances around. “Dude. Please. It’s no trouble. It’s the middle of the night on the edge of town.”

Itachi refuses again and refuses many more times as Shisui tries hard to convince him otherwise. Eventually, Shisui is forced to relent.

“Please, just be careful,” he says, clearly not happy about this.

“I always am,” he assures. Then he leaves.

 

* * *

 

“Can we leave yet?” Shikamaru asked next to him, flicking some ash off his cigarette onto the ground as they walked. “We’ve been here all day. I’m not sticking around all night as well.”

“Of course not!” Naruto informed him brightly. “The free shows are about to start!”

“We’ve been watching free shows all day.” Shikamaru gestured lazily with his cigarette, “There’s a free show right there.” 

Naruto looked over to see a man and a woman playing guitars for a small crowd on the sidewalk. “No, I mean the ones taking place inside! I think they actually had to audition, so they’ll be good!”

“Pft. What a drag…” he mumbled, taking a drag from his cigarette.

Sakura, who had been listening with interest until then, glared at him. “The hell are _you_ complaining about? Like you have anything better to do. Ino and I were supposed to have a date tonight!” She turned her glare to Naruto.

Naruto laughed sheepishly and rubbed his neck. “Heh. Sorry about that… It’s for the band?”

Both his friends continued to glare at him.

“…You guys are the best?” Naruto gave them his winning smile.

They both huffed, Sakura shaking her head, and returned to looking around. Naruto sighed in relief. Arguing with Sakura was never a fun experience. He practically had to beg on his knees to get her to cancel her date. She only relented when Naruto said he wanted to share these experiences with his ‘bestest’ friends.

“Well, with any luck we’ll finally find a lead singer who is willing to join us and, you know, can actually sing,” Shikamaru glanced pointedly at the other two.

“What was that, porcupine?!” Sakura yelled over Naruto’s indignant “ _Hey!_ ”

“I’m a great singer!” Naruto pointed over his shoulder with his thumb and lowered his voice. “Sakura’s the one who sounds like a dying frog.”

Sakura whacked Naruto upside the head. “Coming from you! You sound like a tone-deaf whale!”

“Sakura! You’re mean! At least I can keep tempo!”

“I’m the drummer you idiot! Half my job is keeping the tempo for the rest of you off-beat savages!”

Shikamaru tuned them out and led his bickering friends to the main stage of the event, where he presumed these free shows would be held. He scanned the available seats and headed for the front—knowing Naruto would want to be as close as possible—despite wanting to head for the back so he could take a nap. Behind him, he heard Naruto trying to save face with _you’re the best drummer I’ve ever met!_ and _whenever it’s you playing the drums, it’s like my ribcage explodes!_ whatever the hell that means. He led them into their row and they took their seats, Sakura to his left and Naruto beside her.

Naruto was restless in his seat, clearly excited, much to his friends’ amusement. Naruto took the opportunity to catch up a bit with Sakura, who had been busy since she finally got together with Ino a few weeks ago. They still talked; it just wasn’t as much as he was used to, and he missed her. She was one of his first and dearest friends, and even though they still talked almost every day, he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. If he was being honest, that jealousy was probably his biggest reason for being so insistent that she join him tonight. He hadn’t wanted to interrupt her date, but it was the last day of the festival, and he wanted her to be there with him.

Eventually, the lights dimmed with cheers from the crowd—Naruto and Sakura adding their own whoops into the fray as Shikamaru pretended that he didn’t know them—and the show started. The first performer to come on carried nothing but an acoustic guitar and a bright smile. She was good, simple melodies and clean vocals that made Naruto feel light and peaceful. When she was done, she walked off waving and Naruto joined the crowd in cheering for her performance. After her, various artists, from full bands to solo artists, came on one after the other, each playing a decent set list of about five songs before taking their leave off the stage.

And then _he_ walked on.

“Oh, he is _cute,_ ” he heard Sakura whisper to Shikamaru.

“Aren’t you a lesbian?” he replied.

“Yeah, but I’m not _blind,_ ” she whispered back sharply.

Naruto, who had barely heard her, silently agreed. Naruto didn’t think before that he was one easily swayed by others’ appearances, but the man currently retrieving a cord from a speaker on stage was so handsome, Naruto couldn’t think straight. He had short black hair that framed his face and stuck up a bit strangely in the back. He was pale, with dark, listless eyes that only gave furtive glances towards the crowd as he set up.

And then he started his first song.

At first, Naruto was surprised. The man tapped his phone, hooked up to a cord, and his first song started immediately—he hadn’t even introduced himself—with a strings instrumental, clearly not the guitar he had brought with him on the stage. Then drums, bass, and various other instruments Naruto wasn’t sure about joined the composition. Most artists played original pieces here in hopes of standing out and getting signed, was he not doing the same? Or did he compose full instrumentals for his songs?

Then, when he began singing, Naruto was confused. The song was unassuming, smooth and gentle despite its complexity. It rejected pity but invited empathy. Or that was what he had thought at first. He would take you into a metaphor but then drop it for another, as if inviting you in only to slam the door shut in your face. It was frustrating, being suddenly shut out; it left Naruto with the desire to press against the door, to press his ear to the keyhole. But the songs were unapologetic in their evasiveness, and after the first two, Naruto knows these songs aren’t for him, are not for anyone but the man performing them.

It was disorienting; it called to mind his night in the woods near his childhood home. When he ran, stumbling, from what used to be _their_ home, but had instead become a home for _them_. His tiny feet and knees were scraped, cut by hard stones and harsh braches, and bled into the night air. Dirt caked and rubbed into his cuts from his numerous falls, stinging unbearably, and he washed them in the creek, fat tears still falling and mixing in the water, salt in his wounds. He was all alone in the creek, the water cold and sucking him of warmth. And how desperately he missed it. Warmth and attention, everything that had previously been _his_ was now _theirs_. In that moment, he resented all of them.

At least, that was what he told himself. Every rustle of leaves made his heart leap with joy, his father had come to get him! But when he turned, no one was there. And later, when two branches brushed against each other—his mother! Here to scold him for running out and to tuck him in. But there were only the dark silhouettes of trees around him, only the tadpoles in the creek.

He was alone in those woods.

Naruto felt movement to his right and was brought out of his trance. He turned to see Sakura turning away from Shikamaru, both of them giving him equally concerned looks.

That’s right… he wasn’t in those woods anymore. He was here, at a music festival with two of his closest friends. 

He flashed them his signature smile, and it was only a little forced. They glanced at each other and shared some kind of understanding before reluctantly turning back to the stage as well. Naruto wondered what kind of face he had subconsciously made to warrant such concern.

Naruto turned his attention back as well to tune back in. It was undeniable that he was good, incredible even, but his chest still felt tight with the memory of that night. His parents never came to get him.

As the man finished his last piece on the keyboard that had been left onstage, Naruto felt like his head was spinning. He sat there, stunned, and only moved to clap when the rest of the crowd went wild around him.

The man hardly seemed to notice. Just as he had entered, he gave no word of parting as he prepared to clear the stage. 

Naruto felt immensely disappointed. He wanted him to keep playing. He was sure it wasn’t because of the feelings the music evoked in him, as he was never one to dwell on negative feelings for longer than two seconds, but he felt compelled to listen. It spoke to him in some way that he never really allowed himself to acknowledge before. It brought back feelings, stupid, unjustified feelings that he fought down a long time ago. And with only five songs, they had come boiling to the surface.

But even more than all of that…

The man, guitar in hand, exited the stage with no preamble as the next band began setting up with the help of the stage crew.

They had been to the same place. Naruto was sure of it. He sang too beautifully for anything else to be true. Did this man still live in that world? Or did he only visit through his music?

It’s true; Naruto’s parents never came into the woods to get him that night. But it didn’t matter. Because when Naruto had wandered out of the woods hours later, he discovered that the entire neighborhood had been enlisted by his parents to search for him. His father, as chief of the local police, had even enlisted some off-duty officers. And when he got home—banished to his room by his father, where he would be grounded to for a while—his baby brothers were asleep on the couch where his mom sat, eyes tired and teary. She held him and cried, too exhausted and relived to even scold him, as she normally would have.

Naruto thought about cold, listless, black eyes.

Did anyone wait anxiously for him to come home?

* * *

 

“Nice place!”

Sasuke locks the door behind him and kicks his shoes off. “Is that sarcasm?”

Naruto follows suit and leaves his shoes at the door. “What? No! It’s… nice! Well, it’s a little plain and boring, but it suits you!”

“Going by that logic, you must live in the treetops.” Sasuke brushes past him and heads to his bedroom.

“Hey! Where’s my tour? And my complimentary water?”

Sasuke gives him a skeptical look. “Excuse me?”

“You know, that fact that you’re a shitty host isn’t that surprising, now that I think about it.”

Sasuke glares slightly but turns to face Naruto, who is still lingering by the front door. “Kitchen,” he gestures to his right. “Living room,” to his left. “We’re going to my bedroom, on the right,” he points with his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the hallway with two doors on either side and one in the very back. “Bathroom’s across from it. Got all that?”

“Uhhhh…Yup! And my water?”

“Help yourself.” Sasuke gestures to the kitchen again before heading to his room.

“Ha! You’re real funny, Sasuke.” Naruto chuckles behind him as he follows the other.

The room is simple, with plain white walls and a popcorn ceiling. The window is straight ahead, the curtain opened only slightly, casting most of the room into shadows. Pushed into the far corner of the room is a twin-sized bed, the foot of it under the window. The dark, thin sheets are in disarray, and a simple wooden nightstand is on its other side.

Sasuke heads straight for the bed and straightens out the sheets before sitting on top. As Naruto follows and sits down beside him, he notices the other twin bed, with made sheets, pushed up against the opposite wall. The room was small, the two beds taking up nearly all of the space, but Naruto still got the impression they were placed as far apart as possible.

“Why do you have two beds?”

Sasuke glances at him out of the corner of his eye. “…That’s my brother’s.”

“You live with him?”

Sasuke hums the affirmative, pulling a leg up onto the bed to get more comfortable.

“Oh, cool! When do I get to meet him?”

Hopefully never. “Who knows. Not tonight.” Because you’re leaving before he gets within a square mile of here.

“Aww, I wanted to meet him,” he whines. “What’s he like? You never told me.”

“Stubborn,” he answers immediately.

“Heh. Just like you!”

“ _Not_ like me. He’s an idiot.”

Naruto laughs awkwardly. “I can’t tell if you get along or not. I hope you do or sharing a room would be terrible.”

Sasuke sighs and loses a bit of steam, looking down at the floor. “No. We’re fine. It’s just…” Sasuke tries to find the right words. “It’s hard to be around him most of the time.” Literally. He’s usually either at work or asleep.

“How so?”

Sasuke drags his gaze back over to him. “You’re nosey.” 

“Hey, I’m just trying to help!” Naruto squints, tilts his head, thinking. “Maybe try talking to him?”

“You’re right. I never thought of that. It’s not that simple you fucking idiot.”

Naruto’s face screws up in an angry pout. “Well, I’m sorry for trying to help!”

“I didn’t ask for your help,” Sasuke says a little too sharply.

“Whatever,” Naruto huffs, crossing his arms.

They sit in awkward silence for a while. Sasuke picks at the fraying ends of his bed sheets.

Naruto is the first to break the silence. “ _Sooo_ … what did you want to do?”

Sasuke huffs. “You said you’d think of something.”

“Oh, right! I was thinkin’ we’d have a jam sesh together!” Naruto says excitedly, his eyes practically sparkling.

Sasuke takes a moment to appreciate his excited face before he crushes it. “No.”

Naruto’s face falls. “ _Whaaat?_ Why not?”

“Don’t feel like it.”

Naruto pouts. “Well, then what do _you_ want to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“…Do you have any games?”

Sasuke wrinkles his nose. They have Scrabble somewhere in the closet in the hall, but he has grown to detest the game after many ruthless sessions with his brother. “…No.”

But that did give him an idea. He takes out his phone and starts tapping around on it.

Naruto squints. “What’re you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

“You can’t ever just be direct, can you?” Naruto sighs but tries to wait patiently.

Sasuke smirks a little as he continues setting up the game on his phone. When he’s done, he tosses it to Naruto who scrambles to catch it. “Your turn.”

Naruto looks down. His eyes go wide and his jaw drops. “Oh God, _no_. Sasuke… _why?_ ” Staring back up at him is the black and white checkerboard of a chess game. He looks up at Sasuke pleadingly. “I meant _video games._ Is this some kind of punishment?”

Sasuke gives him a small, satisfied smile. “Maybe.”

“You’re serious? You really had to pick the most boring game you possibly could have?”

“It’s not boring.”

Naruto makes a small sobbing noise. “You just want me to suffer.”

Sasuke rolls his eyes, still smirking slightly.

“You’re such a bastard…” Naruto grumbles and stares with intense concentration at the phone.

In the meantime, Sasuke scoots back on the bed and props his pillows against the back wall. He leans back against it and waits for Naruto to finish his turn.

Naruto stares at it for a long time before he glances up. “Hey… Sasuke?”

Sasuke raises a brow.

“How do you play?”

Sasuke stares at him for a moment, trying to decide how serious he is, before he lets his head fall back and hit the wall.

“Don’t give me that! Why would I ever play this when there are way better games to play?”

Sasuke scoots over until he’s sitting in the corner. “Come here,” he says, exasperated. “I’ll teach you.”

“Can’t we just play something else?” Naruto asks hopefully.

“No.”

Naruto grumbles, but he gets up and sits beside him on the bed, much to Sasuke’s amusement. It’s a tight squeeze, the width of a twin-sized bed not exactly ideal for fitting two adults, but they manage with only one of Naruto’s legs hanging off the edge. He returns the phone to Sasuke.

“So the objective of the game is to capture the other player’s king piece. You use the rest of them in order to do that, as well as protect your own king. Each piece has rules as to how they can move across the board, so you have to plan ahead.”

“Mhm…” Naruto hums next to him. 

But his tone has Sasuke narrowing his eyes. If there’s one thing that he’s learned in his limited time with Naruto, it’s that he has a short attention span.

“Are you listening?”

“Of course!”

Sasuke glares suspiciously for a moment longer before turning back to his phone. “You see this piece?” Sasuke points with his thumb to one of Naruto’s pawns.

Naruto leans in close against Sasuke’s shoulder to get a closer look. “Yeah?”

Sasuke’s mind goes a bit fuzzy, extremely aware of Naruto’s chest pressed up against his side. He pushes away all of those thoughts, and ignores how warm he is. 

“You can only move it forward, like this,” he taps one of Naruto’s pawns and moves it up two spaces. The board flips, the text over top changing to _Player 1’s Turn._ “Normally you can only move it one space, but when you first move it, you can go either one or two spaces. But capturing with these is a different matter; these can only capture a piece one space diagonal to it.” Sasuke moves one of his pawns to get the screen to flip again. “So for this one,” he points to the piece he moved before, “you could only capture one of your opponent’s pieces if it were in one of these spaces,” he points out the two spaces on each side.

Sasuke, curious about the lack of responses, turns to make sure Naruto is still paying attention. But as he does, Naruto reacts to his movement and looks up at the same time, brushing their noses together.

Sasuke’s breath hitches and he jerks back against the wall in surprise.

Naruto jerked back a bit too, his eyes wide. “Oh, sorry!”

Sasuke tries to get his heartbeat under control, unable to do anything about the slight burn in his cheeks. Really, this is just pathetic. “It’s fine. Did you get all of that?”

Naruto’s face scrunches up. “Uh… Yup!” He nods with a cheery smile.

Sasuke gives him a doubtful expression, but he figures he’ll quiz him at the end of the lesson.

Naruto glances back at the screen. “How do you move the horsey?”

Sasuke puffs out a quick laugh. “It’s called a knight.” Sasuke settles back down to his previous position. “That one has a bit of a unique movement pattern actually. Look, you move it like this,” Sasuke taps one of Naruto’s knights and moves it up.

Naruto leans back in to watch. He stays quiet as Sasuke explains the various pieces and how to move them. After that, he goes into all of the special rules, taking his time to give demonstrations of each of them. While he’s giving a quick rundown on the do’s and don’ts, Naruto rests his chin against Sasuke’s shoulder.

Sasuke’s heart skips a beat, then, infuriatingly, starts going into overdrive. He tries to stay focused on explaining the game, but it’s a bit hard with Naruto’s warm breath hitting his neck, making him feel lightheaded and fidgety. He hopes his voice doesn’t sound as tight as it sounds in his own ears.

Finally, when he runs out of things to explain, at least for the moment, he turns his head slightly to Naruto.

Naruto also looks back at him. Their faces are mere inches apart. “What?” He asks smiling.

Sasuke gives him an amused expression. “Nothing. That’s it for now. Now tell me how much of that actually got through your thick skull.”

Naruto scoffs, offended. “You’re a jerk! I got it.”

Sasuke raises a brow. He holds out the phone to Naruto. “Show me all the ways to move a bishop.”

“Easy!” Naruto snatches the phone and, to Sasuke’s surprise, moves it correctly the first time. “And it can go diagonally the other way or backwards too,” Naruto adds with a cocky smirk.

“Hm. So you actually were listening.”

“Of course! You underestimate me, Sasuke.”

“Now how does en passant work?”

Naruto’s expression turns wary. “Uh…” He sheepishly meets Sasuke’s amused gaze. “The wha?”

Sasuke rolls his eyes and takes the phone back. He demonstrates the rule again, as well as a few others that he figures Naruto has also forgotten by now. After he re-explains the objective quickly, he starts a new game and hands it over to Naruto. “The best way to learn is probably just to play it. You’ll get better as you do.”

“Then what the hell have we been doing the past half-hour?”

“You need to at least know the basic rules, moron.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You just like to torture me, you bastard,” he grumbles under his breath.

They take turns passing the phone back and forth for their respective turns, and not too long later, Sasuke wins the game. Naruto, of course, demands a rematch. 

They play game after game, each time Sasuke coming out the victor. Although, he has to admit that Naruto is picking it up faster than he expected him to. During their first hour of games, Sasuke had occasionally given him tips or reminded him of certain rules, but now—over two hours later—he keeps quiet. Naruto hasn’t won a game yet, but Sasuke had been careless one turn, and had nearly lost. That was unacceptable.

Sasuke hadn’t expected to continue playing chess for so long. He had figured that Naruto would get bored and quit after an hour, if that. But it seems as though he has a competitive side that rivals Sasuke’s own. Sasuke finds that thought amusing.

“Hey,” Naruto calls to him softly, breaking Sasuke from his thoughts.

Sasuke looks at him expectantly.

Naruto hands him the phone for his turn. “I’m sorry about earlier. I really just wanted to help you.”

Sasuke is confused until he remembers their arguments when they first got here. “Hm. And you say _I_ kill the mood.”

“Shut up, bastard! I’m serious.”

Sasuke looks down at his phone and plans his next move. “Yeah, I know. You didn’t really do anything wrong, I just don’t like talking about it.”

Naruto is quiet, presumably thinking. 

Sasuke moves his rook so that Naruto will be forced to retreat on his turn, or lose a piece. He hands it back over to Naruto.

Naruto stares at the screen for a while, his breath gentle on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Have you _ever_ talked about it?” When Sasuke doesn’t answer immediately, he continues, “I think you would feel better if you did.”

Sasuke lets out a frustrated sigh and thinks for a moment. “Talk to you, you mean? I don’t think it would even make sense to you. It would just seem… stupid.” Sasuke rubs a hand over his face. “I guess it all kind of is stupid, but it’s… frustrating. It’s like we’re… stuck.”

Naruto makes his move and hands the phone back. “What do you mean?”

Sasuke clutches a fistful of bed sheets in his other hand. He focuses back on the game to suppress his thoughts.

Naruto hadn’t retreated.

Sasuke scoffs. Of course he hadn’t.

Sasuke moves to capture Naruto’s piece and hands it back. He considers Naruto’s question again. “It’s like... I don’t even know how to explain. It’s all just so stupid, and got turned into something… something it was never supposed to be over time.” Sasuke sighs again. “I really don’t know where to even start with it. It’s a long story I guess.”

Naruto hums in understanding against him, the vibrations tickling his side. “I think I kind of understand,” he says, eyes still on the screen. “I guess I can’t pretend to know exactly what you’re going through, because I don’t know anything about it. But, I had a stupid thing with my parents for a long time too. I was hardly ever home and always got into trouble because of it,” he laughs humorlessly, “really, it was so dumb.”

They both fall into silence for a bit as Naruto plans his move and Sasuke thinks about the other’s words.

“You said ‘had.’ Did it work out with your parents?”

“Yeah. And do you know how? I talked about it with them. I made friends that pushed me to realize and confront a lot of things I had been trying to ignore. And once I realized those things… I didn’t want it to be like that. It was one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had, but I needed it. I’m glad it happened.”

Naruto makes his move during Sasuke’s contemplative silence and hands the phone back over.

Sasuke stares down at the board for a long time, but when he can’t see any moves to make, he eventually speaks again. “Even if I did talk to him, I don’t think he would take me seriously. Sometimes I think that he doesn’t even see me as a person,” he says quietly, voice tight. Sasuke’s heart thumps painfully with the confession.

Naruto’s brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

Sasuke huffs out a frustrated breath and rubs his eyes with one hand. “I can just tell that he doesn’t take me seriously. He thinks I’m… I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t even doubt me necessarily, it’s just that he thinks he knows better. Which I guess is just a result of him practically raising me, but it still sucks.”

Naruto sits up a bit to look at him. “I don’t know what to say. I know it isn’t exactly helpful advice, but the only thing I can recommend is talking to him about it. If you’ve never tried it before, you never know what might happen.”

Sasuke glances at him from the corner of his eye. He must have looked pretty pathetic, because Naruto wraps him in a hug a moment later. His hold is tight and Sasuke, more exhausted than he realized, melts into it. Some of the pain in his heart eases.

Naruto pulls back after a bit, and Sasuke wishes he wouldn’t.

“I’ll think about it,” Sasuke settles on. He taps his phone to bring the screen back to life. “I think this game is over though. Stalemate.”

Naruto takes it from him. His blue eyes flicker all over the screen, playing out all possible moves. Eventually, a slow smile spreads across his face. “Nope, you’re wrong.”

Sasuke squints at him suspiciously.

Naruto holds out the screen so he can see too. “Look, you just have to move this,” Naruto taps on Sasuke’s knight, “here, and you win.” Naruto taps on his own king, and the game ends. The words _Player 2 Wins_ pop up on the screen. “Knights can move through other pieces, remember?”

Sasuke is speechless.

Naruto smiles softly at him. “Don’t give up so easily. You’re smarter than that.”

* * *

 

It’s a cool, overcast day, the swift wind stealing leaves away from the trees to dance with them in the crisp air. Itachi’s hair got blown into his face—stuck in his lashes, on the corners of his mouth—the entire way to work that morning. It’s finally cold enough for his cheeks to flush and for him to hide his hands in his coat pockets during his walks to work in the mornings. And for Sasuke to peek out from their room before Itachi leaves, to see if he has a thick enough coat.

The illumination in the local public library wasn’t great on even the sunniest of days, but today, the dimness is almost eerie. Itachi has been staring at the same spot in his book for a while now. Itachi tries not to, but he swallows compulsively, and feels the itch in the back of his throat for the countless time that day.

Sasuke is going to kill him. Or at the very least, give him a killer headache. His little brother always has the tendency to overreact about his health. He knows it’s mostly because of a scare they had when they were young, but really, it is not that dire of a situation.

“What’s with the long face?”

Itachi looks up at Shisui’s slightly worried expression, a small, crooked smile on his face.

“I’d think it was the book, if you hadn’t been staring at the same spot on it for the past twenty minutes.”

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Oh, come on! We’re friends now aren’t we?”

Itachi doesn’t exactly dislike his company as much as he likes to pretend but… “We’re not friends.”

Shisui seems genuinely taken aback by that, and Itachi feels a small stab of guilt. “Why not?”

Itachi shrugs, feeling uncomfortable. His discomfort and guilt only increases in the awkward silence that follows. “Well,” Itachi clears his throat, “friends usually spend time together outside of their places of employment, for one.”

“We could do that! Do you work at the station tonight?”

“Yes…” Perhaps lying isn’t the smartest idea. Shisui knows where he works—and makes a habit of showing up most nights there as well—but it was reflexive. Itachi’s mind races to find a way to get out of this without hurting the other’s feelings. It isn’t so much that he doesn’t want to spend time with Shisui, it is just that he would rather spend his rare moments of free time doing other things. It would be nice to catch up on some sleep, or maybe spend some time with Sasuke.

He looks disappointed. “Oh. Well, we could still go… Uh. Eat or something. What time do you get off?”

Itachi slowly places a bookmark in his book and sets it aside to buy himself time to think. He sighs, pushing hair behind his ear, looking down at his desk. “I don’t mean to offend you when I say this, but I have responsibilities to attend to after my shift ends here.” Itachi peeks up and sees Shisui fight not to look too disappointed. “Maybe when I have more free time, sorry,” he adds quietly.

Shisui nods. “That sounds like a plan,” he flashes a bright smile, but Itachi can tell it’s forced.

They both hear a door open from the hallway behind Itachi. Itachi turns, curious, because his boss has always locked himself in his office and rarely comes out for as long as Itachi has been here. Conversely, Shisui dips into the library, hiding himself in the aisles.

Coward, Itachi thinks with a small exhale of laughter.

His boss appears at the end of the hallway. He glances around quickly before looking to Itachi. “Sean, a minute?”

Shisui peeks out discreetly from behind a shelf, watching Itachi head back into the hallway. He contemplates going home for today, since Itachi didn’t seem to be in any mood to play, and he figures Itachi is the type to want space. But he also doesn’t like the idea of leaving his friend (and they are friends, damn it!) alone while he is clearly in low spirits. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to go about cheering his emotionally distant friend up.

Not too long after, he sees the older man—who he presumes is Itachi’s boss—come out and leave through the front door. Itachi, who came out behind him, heads for his desk and starts putting things away.

Shisui comes out from behind the shelf and approaches the desk. “What was that about?”

Itachi doesn’t glance up from shutting down his computer. “A family emergency, apparently. He said I could go ahead and close early for today.

“What about the townspeople who need that information?” he teases.

“There’s another library downtown. They can go there.”

“Hm. So what you’re saying is: You have a free afternoon,” Shisui says with a cheeky smile.

Itachi realizes what the other is implying. He gives Shisui a tired, wary expression. 

“Don’t look so excited. Look man, if you want to just go home and do whatever, that’s fine with me. You look like you could use the rest.”

Itachi takes his coat off of the back of his chair and folds it over his arm. Truthfully, he could go for a nap right now. But he would never admit such a thing out loud. He could also spend some time with Sasuke, but knowing his brother, he would probably be asleep.

He sighs. “No, it’s fine. Did you have anything particular in mind?”

“Not really. But we could go to the fair?”

Itachi gives him a look. “That’s over an hour away.”

“Road trip! I’d call shotgun, but I would rather drive, no offense.” 

Itachi narrows his eyes at him. 

“You’ve been holding your book like an inch from your face lately! Where’s your glasses?”

“They broke,” Itachi’s mouth twists to the side at the memory. Itachi used to leave his glasses on Sasuke’s nightstand since he didn’t have one himself, and one night, Sasuke had accidentally knocked them off in his sleep, and then stepped on them in the morning. Itachi hadn’t been angry, if only because he could tell Sasuke felt really guilty about it.

“Yeah, I’m definitely driving. So are we going?”

Itachi walks around to meet Shisui in front of his desk, rolling his eyes. “Fine. I suppose we aren’t likely to think of anything better.”

They head towards the entrance together. Shisui lingers behind him as Itachi turns off the lights and locks the doors.

Shisui leads him to his car, pulling out his keys and unlocking the doors remotely. As Itachi slides into the passenger seat, Shisui says, “What are the odds, right?”

Itachi fastens his seatbelt and looks at him questioningly.

Shisui shuts his door and fastens his own seatbelt. “I mean, we were just talking about how you didn’t have any free time to hang out, and then your boss gives you the day off. That’s crazy.”

“Hm. ‘Nothing is random, nor will anything ever be… In the end, or rather, as things really are, any event, no matter how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others…’”

Shisui stares at him.

“Kate Chopin.”

Shisui laughs, shaking his head, and starts the car.

They sit in silence as Shisui navigates through the town’s twisted roadways. Itachi stares out his window for most of the ride, observing the scenery passing them by. At some point, Shisui tells him he can change the radio station if he likes, to which Itachi declines.

Eventually, Shisui turns onto the interstate. 

“So. Who’s Sean?”

Itachi sighs. “My legal name.”

Shisui keeps his eyes on the road. “So… which do you go by? Your nametag always says ‘Itachi.’”

“I prefer ‘Itachi.’ It was my real name before I had it changed years ago.” Well, it isn’t exactly a lie.

Shisui raises a brow. “Why’d you change your name if you prefer your old one?”

Itachi glances out the side window, quiet as he considers his words. He wasn’t being entirely truthful, but he also wasn’t lying as much as he normally would have. He is naturally wary of people, but he does trust his instincts. He has always been good at reading people, and he knows Shisui is loyal. He trusts Shisui, he realizes, surprised.

But only as much as he can trust a person.

“It used to matter a lot to me,” he says eventually, brushing his fingers against the material of the coat in his lap. “But now I think that it is not so important,” he says vaguely.

Shisui hums thoughtfully, but lets the subject drop. 

They spend the rest of the ride in silence. By the time Shisui is pulling into a parking space, it is already dark, the days short this time of year. The clouds have cleared for the most part though, so he can’t complain too much.

They hit a roadblock at the front entrance. “You have to pay?”

Shisui gives him a look. “Uh, yeah man. Have you never been to one before?”

Itachi shakes his head. “Are these not public events? Like festivals? Why would you have to pay?”

“I mean, that’s just how it is. Don’t worry, I got it.”

Itachi tilts his head with a frown. “Well, that’s good for you. But I don’t intend on spending that much money for something so trifle.”

Shisui laughs a little. “No, I mean I’ll pay for you. That was my intention in the first place.”

Itachi glares at him. “You most certainly will _not._ ”

“We’re already here!”

Itachi frowns. “Let’s just do something else. There must be something in the area.”

Shisui gives him an amused look before heading towards the gate, laughing. 

Itachi blinks at the abandonment and follows him, hot on his heels. “Where are you going?”

“To get two tickets.”

“ _No_ , you are _not_.” He tries to grab Shisui’s arm, but the man evades him.

Shisui catches up to the front and gets in line before Itachi can stop him. Itachi wants to grab the other and drag him away, but he glances around at all the people surrounding him nervously. There are too many people around for him to make a scene.

He looks up to glare at Shisui, hoping to intimidate him into submission, only to find an unwavering smug look waiting for him.

“I’ll just leave.”

“That’d be a shame, a perfectly good ticket will be going to waste.” Shisui tilts his head. “And also my money, I guess.”

Itachi huffs and looks away, pouting.

They wait in line and Shisui pays the entrance fee when it’s his turn. Then they wait in another line to purchase tickets for the actual rides. Which is apparently perfectly normal, since Shisui doesn’t even bat an eye. Itachi finds it ridiculous, what on earth was the point of the fee at the gate, then? He had been to a few festivals with Sasuke while they lived in Japan, but they were always open to the public, free of charge.

Although, Itachi glances around after Shisui finishes getting the tickets, and they walk inside, this does not look like the festivals back home. It looks more like an amusement park, with several rides visible in the distance, including a roller coaster going high into the dark sky. Colorful lights flash all around him; the strong winds blow napkins and other trash across the ground.

He turns to Shisui. “Is this an amusement park?”

Shisui laughs. “No. It’s the fair. You really have never been?” He leads them off to the side of the entrance, out of the way.

“No.”

“You’ve never been to anything like this?”

“I took- I went to a few festivals back home when I was younger. I guess I thought these would be more like that.”

Shisui looks curious, still smiling. “Yeah? What’d you expect?”

Itachi eyes a ride in which an enormous plastic boat, full of passengers, spins in circles in the air, a chorus of sharp screams coming from it. “…Something more tame.”

“Knowing you, that’s code word for ‘boring.’” He laughs when Itachi glares slightly. “So what do you want to do first?”

Itachi shrugs. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Well it’s your first time to a fair, so you get to pick,” he smiles at him.

Itachi pulls the collar of his coat up at bit at a particularly strong gust of wind, looking around. He tries to spot a ride that he would actually be willing to participate in, but instead he finds something else.

Itachi points to a stand ahead of them, a decent distance away. “I’m getting ice cream.”

Shisui looks to the stand he pointed at. “That’s frozen custard.”

“What’s the difference?” Itachi squints. The pictures on the side of the stand are blurry, but they still look like ice cream cones to him.

“…Huh. You know, I don’t really know. It’s basically good ice cream I guess. I mean, I think we should do the rides first because…” Itachi is already walking off in the direction of the stand. “…Or we can get it now,” he mutters to himself and chases down his friend.

Itachi changes his mind when he sees the prices (that much for one small cone? Ridiculous.), but Shisui gets the both them chocolate dipped vanilla cones, which Itachi takes reluctantly. Itachi grabs a plastic spoon off the front of the stand while Shisui grabs a few napkins, and they both head to one of the plastic picnic tables set up in a tent behind a few of the food stands.

Itachi gets a generous amount onto his spoon and sticks it in his mouth.

 _Oh._

Itachi isn’t one for swearing, or cursing any higher being that could bring him any more misfortune, but _goddamn_.

Snickering comes from across the table. “ _That_ good, huh?”

Itachi shoots him a slight glare and sticks another spoonful in his mouth.

When they finish, they head over to throw away their trash.

“My turn. I wanted to go on a coaster, but I guess we should stick to tame rides for a bit since we ate. I don’t plan on having that kinda night.”

With that, he leads Itachi over to their first ride of the night, a spinning teacup ride that Itachi feels foolish getting into. Shisui has a bit too much fun making their cup spin faster, in Itachi’s opinion, but he doesn’t protest, instead giving him an amused expression. After that, they take turns picking out different rides to go on. Itachi comes to the conclusion that he does not necessarily mind rides that are fast or spin, only ones that are fast _and_ spin. At one point, Itachi drags an amused Shisui into the concert hall, and they stay a while to watch the live performances. It is then, when he has a moment to reflect, that he realizes that he feels lighter than he has in years.

What is surely hours later, Itachi finds a dart game that the both of them do extremely well at, getting to pick any prize they like from the shelf. Shisui picks a fat, stuffed owl with glasses that fits in his hand. Shisui shows it off to him with a bright smile— _it’s kinda like you!_ —to which Itachi rolls his eyes with a soft smile. Itachi selects a stuffed cat with scruffy black fur and an adorable, angry expression. 

It makes him think of Sasuke.

Suddenly, he feels horribly guilty.

If anyone should be having fun or be able to do such things, it should be Sasuke. He knows Sasuke must be awfully bored being trapped at home all the time, they don’t even have a television, and he knows Sasuke would never spend money doing something like this. And yet here he is, having a night out with money that isn’t even his.

He is a horrible elder brother.

“Hey, you okay?”

Itachi doesn’t look up to Shisui, walking beside him. The wind blows harshly around them, white noise that blends into the constant industrial hum of this place. “I think I would like to go home now,” he says quietly to the ground.

“What?” He says surprised.

Itachi keeps walking with him, his eyes on the ground, cradling the toy cat to his chest. 

Shisui puts a hand on his shoulder and pulls him off to the side. “Hey… what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just tired. We’ve been here for hours.”

Itachi doesn’t need to look up to know Shisui is giving him a concerned expression, he can feel it on his skin.

“Okay… But first, one more?” he asks with a smile in his voice. He points behind Itachi.

Itachi turns. It’s a Ferris wheel.

Itachi sighs softly and nods, following behind Shisui as he weaves through the crowd towards it.

Neither of them speak as they wait in line, though Itachi can feel Shisui watching him out of the corner of his eye. When it’s their turn, they settle in, Itachi holding the stuffed cat in his lap.

Slowly, they make their way higher, the ride stopping and starting again to let people on and others to get off. Up here, with nothing around to defuse it, the wind assaults them more harshly. Itachi’s hair flies all over the place and he is constantly attempting to sooth it down with his hand. Eventually, he gives up, and settles for enjoying the sensation, even if he will look like a mess afterwards. At least the majority of it is secure in a braid. Itachi quietly scans the ground below, and wonders what the appeal of this ride is supposed to be. Instead, he looks up and traces the constellations with his eyes.

They slowly move higher and higher, and finally, they are at the top.

“Look,” Shisui calls.

Itachi looks back down at him and follows his gaze to the ground.

Itachi is taken aback for a moment. He supposes from this high, it actually is a rather pretty sight. Itachi has always found the night sky to be beautiful, though he misses when it was more full. But down below, with all of the colorful lights flashing and spinning about, he thinks there’s something beautiful about it as well.

When Itachi feels eyes on him, he looks up at Shisui, who is staring at him with a pinch in his brow.

“What?”

“…Why did you want to leave so suddenly?”

He hadn’t realized how peaceful he felt until he remembered his guilt.

“I told you, we’ve been here for hours.”

Shisui gives him a skeptical expression before he sighs and looks back down. “You don’t have to answer to me, but you also don’t have to lie.”

Itachi’s mouth twists to the side. He swings one foot in the air. “I appreciate the concern, but it is hardly anything so dramatic.”

Shisui scoffs. “It didn’t look that way to me.”

Itachi sighs. “I simply wished to go home.”

“Why? You were having a good time the moment before.”

Itachi stares back down at the ground, more to escape the conversation than to appreciate the view.

Shisui doesn’t look away. He tries to get something out of Itachi’s expression, but it’s useless, it is carefully blank, as it usually is. Reflections of the neon lights dance around in his black, empty eyes. His bangs get tossed around his face in the wind, not bothering to fuss with it anymore.

The wheel moves again, and they begin their slow descent downward.

“…Honestly, I can’t figure you out most of the time. But I know that you’re a nice person.” Shisui runs a hand through his hair that is being ruffled by the wind. “I hate to see you upset. I’m just saying you can talk to me, you know. Maybe I can-”

“Tell me about your job.”

Shisui is visibly caught off guard. “What?”

“It is not so easy, is it?”

Shisui takes a few moments to get over his surprise and indignation, feeling a bit betrayed. Though, he guesses the other has proven his point. Still, Shisui doesn’t appreciate it being tossed into his face in such a manner. He reminds himself that Itachi is probably feeling cornered and is lashing out as a defense. Maybe starting this conversation while trapped together in a small space was a bad idea.

“…I fucking suck at my job.”

Itachi cuts his eyes to him quickly, in surprise.

“I guess it wouldn’t really matter, or I wouldn’t really care, if it didn’t lead to practically ruining people’s lives. I guess these things happen, maybe I’m not actually bad, but when you constantly do nothing but _fail_ all the time, it gets-“

“Shisui, stop.” Itachi touches his fingertips to Shisui’s arm, looking guilty. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… You don’t need to be telling me this.”

Shisui looks into the other’s eyes, glad to see them come back to life. “Nah, it’s fine. If it’s you, it’s fine.”

Itachi blinks, his eyes slightly wide. Then he furrows his brow slightly. “If it’s me? What do you mean?”

Shisui’s face breaks into a crooked smile. “Well, you’re my friend, so telling you that kinda thing is okay.”

Itachi stares at him, his brow still furrowed and his eyes probing, the same look he gave Shisui all those months ago at the library. Trying to analyze him, Shisui supposes.

Itachi looks back down with a sigh. “I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be doing things like this.”

Shisui is confused, he doesn’t know what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t that. “Why not?”

Because it is unfair to Sasuke, Itachi’s mind supplies immediately. He swings his leg back and forth, eyes still on the ground, his expression thoughtful. Only tiny bits of distress slip through the cracks. “It’s not fair…”

Shisui studies him, his brow creased. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but you’re allowed to have some fun, Itachi.”

Itachi shakes his head.

“Are you really saying that you don’t think you’re allowed to have fun? Do you really believe that?”

“That is not what I am saying,” he says dryly.

“Then what _are_ you saying? Because that’s what it sounds like to me.”

Itachi resists the urge to huff in frustration. “I have other priorities. I shouldn’t be wasting time like this.”

Shisui feels a stab of offense again before he pushes it aside for now. “It’s not a waste of time if you’re having fun. Taking a single day off to do what you want isn’t going to kill anyone.”

Itachi messes with the fur on his toy cat, thinking. When he puts it like that, he supposes that it does sound a bit ridiculous. Is he being unreasonable? He doesn’t think Sasuke will get mad at him for something like this—he would be proud, even—but that isn’t the point. The point is that Sasuke is the one who needs these sort of things, not him, and he shouldn’t have anyone else paying his way, and if he does have free time, he should be more productive with it.

Although, maybe Shisui has a point. Having a single day off in months is hardly the end of the world. He knows, but it is hard to get his brain to accept that.

Shisui waits for him quietly. At this point, their ride is almost over, their position only a few more turns away from the platform at the bottom.

“I guess you’re right, at least somewhat. But still, it just does not feel right to me, regardless of how rational or irrational it might be. And I really am tired, so I’d just like to go home.”

Shisui looks like he wants to argue, but he relents with a sigh.

 

 

“Am I taking you home or to work?”

Itachi blinks suddenly with a slight jerk. He hadn’t exactly been asleep, but it was a near thing. The car is comfortably dark, the radio hums at a low volume, the warmth of the heater easing his posture. At some point in the long drive, the gentle rocking of the moving car had pulled Itachi into resting his head against the edge of his seat by the window.

Shisui, whose eyes are on the road, smirks a little.

Then Itachi remembers his earlier lie. He mentally curses himself.

“Home,” Itachi says quietly, his voice thick with sleep.

Shisui hums in understanding and doesn’t say anything else, but Itachi can’t let it go.

“Actually… I lied earlier. I don’t have work tonight,” he confesses lowly. Each word borders on physical pain, nearly impossible to push out of his mouth. His head feels light by the time he’s finished the simple sentences.

“What?” Shisui glances at him before he looks back to the road.

“I’m sorry,” Itachi says sincerely. 

Shisui is quiet for a long time, making Itachi wonder if he’s mad. As the silence stretches on, Itachi’s heartbeat becomes harder, his breath short, frozen in suspense. 

He finally gets enough courage to look over. It’s dark, and Itachi can’t exactly tell what he’s thinking, but he knows the other is upset. The sight pains him, and he quickly sinks back into his earlier guilt.

“I like you.” Distantly, he wonders what has possessed him, but he suspects it is the usual culprit: lack of sleep. “So, it’s not that. It’s just…” Itachi scrambles to find a way to explain. “It’s like I told you earlier, I don’t feel like I should do things like that. But I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, so I lied.”

Shisui is quiet, but Itachi can tell that he’s mulling his words over in his head.

“I’m sorry,” Itachi says again quietly.

Shisui huffs out a little laugh. “I get it. Hold on a sec.” He flicks on his blinker and checks behind them before changing lanes over to the right, where their exit will be. A few moments later, they turn off the exit and get back on their town’s narrow, cracked roads. It gets a bit darker, the forestry becoming a canopy overhead, and no headlights come from the other direction.

“Where do you live, by the way?”

Itachi gives him directions, and Shisui seems to know where, but it’s not exactly surprising, it really is a small town.

Shisui drums his fingers on the wheel before he clears his throat. “I get it. You really don’t need to be looking like that. It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t really get why you don’t let yourself have fun, but I do understand you’re like that now. No harm done.” He glances at Itachi out of the corner of his eye with a smirk. “And I like you too.”

Itachi huffs out a short laugh and smiles despite himself.

The rest of the ride is spent in a comfortable silence. Itachi looks up out of his window, still smiling slightly, at the stars, feeling happy that there are so many again now that they are away from the city.

Shisui pulls up to Itachi’s apartment complex; Itachi braces himself for moving when he’s so comfortable.

Itachi gets out, toy cat in hand, and walks around to the driver’s side window, cold wind waking him up significantly. He’s not exactly sure what to do in this kind of situation, honestly. Does he thank him for taking him out? He should at least thank him for paying, right? And warn him not to do it again. But Itachi doesn’t really want to bring that up right now, too tired to fuss.

“Goodnight,” he settles for.

Shisui laughs from the window. “Goodnight. Take care of yourself.”

Itachi nods, feeling a bit sheepish, and heads up to his unit. He sighs in pleasure at the warm air that hits him upon entry.

Shisui waits until Itachi closes the door behind him to drive off.

* * *

 

Sasuke is going to murder him, Itachi thinks in despair, feeling his forehead with the back of his hand. The itch in the back of his throat had worsened quickly after he got home—really, it had been getting worse all night—and now he is sure he is running a mild fever as well.

He sits in his usual place on the couch, book a few inches from his face, and waits for his brother who will hopefully be coming home soon. Sasuke could usually tell pretty quickly when he is getting sick, probably because he looks out for it. Itachi sinks a bit more into the couch in dread. For now, he’s sure he doesn’t look ill enough to catch his brother’s attention.

Sasuke gets back about two hours after Itachi. When he does, he takes in Itachi’s hair, which is a mess after spending so long out in the wind. He takes his shoes off and drops his keys onto the counter, walking further into the living room to stand by the couch. He raises an eyebrow.

Itachi sets his book aside, done reading for the night. “Yes?”

Sasuke smirks at him. “Looks like someone had fun tonight.”

“It was windy today.”

“Yeah, apparently,” he says, amused.

Itachi rolls his eyes. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight, Sasuke.”

“Wait,” he says suddenly.

Itachi, who had started to get up, sits back down on the couch, confused.

“Call in sick for work tomorrow.”

Itachi immediately looks worried. “Why?”

“Because I want to talk to you.”

“We can talk now.”

“No, you’re dead on your feet and I won’t have this conversation with you half asleep.”

“I most certainly will not be calling in sick, Sasuke.”

“Don’t you have sick days?”

“Those are for emergencies.”

“Will you just do it?”

“No. We can talk now.”

Sasuke rubs a hand over his face in frustration, anger rising before he can help it. “God, I _knew_ it. You never _listen_ to me! I _said_ I don’t want to talk about it while you’re dead tired. Just take a day off and sleep in! You look like you’re _dead._ What’s wrong with you?”

“And what about you?

Sasuke narrows his eyes. “Don’t you d-”

“You seem to be sleeping in a lot these days.”

“You- That’s not-” Sasuke stammers.

“In fact, I think it’s not a stretch to say you have trouble keeping up basic hygienic tasks,” he continues even though he can see the hurt in his brother’s eyes, but he started it. “If we’re going to talk about worrying behavior, I think yours are a bigger cause for concern.”

Sasuke stares at him with his mouth open slightly, hurt and angry. Is he seriously throwing this in his face right now? How fucking _dare_ he!

He scoffs, he should have known better. He starts marching towards his room to go to bed. 

But then he hears an encouraging voice echo in his head.

_Don’t give up so easily. You’re smarter than that._

Sasuke halts at the beginning of the hallway. He clenches his fist and grits his teeth.

They aren’t getting anywhere like this.

Something has to change.

Something _must change._

Sasuke turns to face his brother, still on the couch that is directly next to him. He sits up on the arm of it, letting one leg hang down. He stares straight ahead, at the front door, and waits until a decent portion of his anger fades. 

Itachi stays in his spot quietly, curious as to what his little brother is thinking.

“Alright, fine,” Sasuke says suddenly, still facing forward. “I have trouble doing a lot of stuff…” the words taste like acid in his mouth, but he presses on. “It’s because… I just do! Dammit, you _know_ why!” Sasuke turns to yell the last bit into his brother’s face, accidently falling into his anger again. “But I want to talk to you! It’s important! 

Itachi looks stunned. Then he deflates a bit and looks guilty. He glances away to clear his throat, then looks back.

“Well… I won’t call off tomorrow. _But,_ ” he rushes to add as Sasuke opens his mouth to protest, “I will probably have to take the next day off, or the one after that.”

Sasuke loses some steam, but his eyes still narrow in suspicion. “Why?”

Itachi looks uncomfortable, and he glances away. “I think I really am getting sick,” he says guiltily.

That, along with the sudden realization that his brother looks flushed with a slight fever, makes Sasuke’s stomach drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun duuunnn… the drama of it all…..
> 
> I know the quotes are wrong/attributed to the wrong person. Itachi knows this too. He purposefully misquotes things and/or attributes them to the wrong authors. He doesn’t do it for any particular reason except that he thinks it’s funny. Although in the first case, he is also avoiding the question. But he usually just does it for fun. The first quote actually goes: “There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.” And it’s actually from Kate Douglas’s ‘New Chronicles of Rebecca.’ The second quote is right but it is actually from Mark Helprin’s ‘Winter’s Tale.’ (Neither of which I am even going to pretend to have read.) Also I’m sure not all festivals in Japan are free, but I know they are out there.
> 
> By the way, thanks for the comments! I really appreciate them, please don’t think im ignoring you if I don’t reply, I just don’t know what to say ^^;

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so I have a confession. This is actually my first time writing fanfic... or a story longer than like 10 pages in general. WAIT! COME BACK! I know that might be a turn off, but I hope you all still give this story a chance bc I will be trying very hard. That being said, I completely welcome feedback as long as you stay kind about it! (Please, very kind, I have very low self esteem). I don't mean to use it as an excuse, because I want to get better of course, but please be patient with me. I already have this entire story planned out, down to every scene, but I can always add stuff or make changes as needed.


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